Oilpressure

Sometimes qualifying features few surprises, and pretty much mirrors what we saw in practice. Such was not the case in today’s NTT IndyCar Series qualifying for tomorrow’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America. Josef Newgarden had been mostly average in the first two practices, but was the only Team Penske representative in the Firestone Fast Six.

Alexander Rossi was quickest in both practice sessions. He barely made the Fast Six and will start fifth. His Arrow McLaren teammate, Felix Rosenqvist, was third quick in this morning’s practice, but he did not make it out of Round One in qualifying and will start sixteenth tomorrow.

Another driver who had found success in the practice session, but let it slip away in qualifying was Dale Coyne’s David Malukas. He was second in Friday’s practice and fourth in this morning’s practice, but he somehow lost his speed this afternoon and will start thirteenth in the race.

One driver that followed the proper trajectory was Colton Herta, who was ninth quick on Friday, second quick this morning and ended up on the pole for tomorrow’s race. It is the tenth career pole for Herta.

Herta’s Andretti Autosport teammate, Kyle Kirkwood, also moved in the right direction through the weekend. He was nineteenth quickest in yesterday’s practice, eighth quick this morning and made the Fast Six, although he had an engine fire that guaranteed him for sixth place. He should be fine for the race.

One Andretti driver who did not seem fine after his session was Romain Grosjean. He has been mired down near the bottom the entire weekend, as the DHL team has had problems getting a handle on this newly paved track since Friday. Grosjean didn’t make it out of Round One. As he returned to the pits, he immediately jumped out of his car, hopped on his scooter and almost ran over me, as he left the pits in a rush. I saw him return to the pit stand in street clothes a little later and he seemed much calmer. Grosjean has been mired in a funk lately, much of it not his fault. Hopefully, his team can figure something out overnight to match the speed of two of his teammates.

Christian Lundgaard continued to set the pace for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. They are also trying to dig out of a funk, and relatively speaking – they are headed in the right direction. Lundgaard will start seventh, Graham Rahal will roll off fourteenth and Jack Harvey will start a disappointing twenty-fourth.

The AJ Foyt team is having a good weekend. Benjamin Pedersen qualified tenth and Santino Ferrucci will start eleventh. If they can figure out the non-ovals for the second half of the season, this may be the turnaround everyone has been looking for for years with this team.

Rinus VeeKay will start fifteenth tomorrow, while his new teammate at Ed Carpenter Racing will start dead-last – four seconds off the pace.

A team that has been somewhat invisible this weekend is Juncos Hollinger Racing. They haven’t been horrible, but they have not stood out either. Callum Ilott will start seventeenth, while Agustin Canapino will start twenty-first. Based on some of the carnage this weekend, not standing out may not be a bad thing.

The Top-Ten in qualifying were as follows: Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou, Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard, Marcus Armstrong, Marcus Ericsson and Benjamin Pedersen.

One thing I’ve noticed as the weekend goes on is that the driver’s perspective on the repave has changed. After some teams tested here last weekend and on Friday, drivers were gushing over how smooth the track was and how much faster it will be. Saturday was a different story, as drivers started sliding off of the smooth track if they got the slightest bit off-line. I overheard a conversation in the media center of one driver wondering why they repaved it, saying no one he knew had complained of the track needing a repave. Since this was hearsay, I won’t name the driver – since I didn’t hear it directly.

As a result of the newly paved track, it may not be a clean race, but I think it will be very entertaining.

That will do it for us. I got a late start writing, because we went riding around the grounds after qualifying and ran into some friends. It’s now time to leave the track and go to our usual Saturday night destination – PJ Campbell’s at the Depot in Plymouth, just a few miles south of the track.

We will be here early tomorrow, as the warm-up will start at 9:15 am CDT (yes, I double-checked). The race broadcast will begin on USA Network at Noon CDT and the green flag is supposed to fly at 12:30 CDT.

I’ll have a quick morning post, then a wrap-up after the race. Then I will have my usual Monday Random Thoughts. Please check back here tomorrow morning.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on June 17, 2023 at 6:35 pm and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.