Round 1, Group 1
On the primary tyre, a 58.5462 from Graham Rahal saw him quickest, just under a tenth ahead of Scott Dixon. Lundgaard, Herta, Rasmussen and VeeKay completed the top 6. Toby Sowery on the reds was P7, less than 0.2s away from the benchmark time.
Pato O’Ward was only 9th, with David Malukas down in 10th. 0.4s covered Rahal in P1 to Kyle Kirkwood in P11.On the reds, David Malukas ran wide at turn 6, putting his right hand wheels on the grass and dirt. He eventually ended up 10th.
At the top of the charts, Christian Lundgaard logged a 58.2063, outpacing Kyle Kirkwood by four hundredths of a second. Ferrucci, Herta, Rahal and Dixon also booked their places for Round 2.
Pietro Fittipaldi missed out by less than two hundredths in the third RLL car in the session. VeeKay, Rasmussen, Malukas, Sowery, O’Ward, Robb and Daly completed the order.
The Mexican in the Arrow McLaren was over 0.3s away from making the top 6 as a tough weekend continues. He had a very snappy car on the reds, having no grip.
Round 1, Group 2
Championship leader Alex Palou led the way on blacks, clocking a 58.6286 to lead Marcus Ericsson and Armstrong by less than a tenth. McLaughlin, Newgarden and Rosenqvist completed the top 6.
Power, Rossi, Lundqvist, Vips, Siegel, Simpson, Grosjean and Harvey needed to improve on the reds to get themselves into the top 6.
The Spaniard lowered the benchmark even further, logging a 58.2459 to top the session. Power was a hundredth slower, with Armstrong, Ericsson, Grosjean and Newgarden also advancing.
The massive shock was Scott McLaughlin. Fastest throughout practice, he could only manage P7, four hundredths slower than teammate Newgarden. Traffic management was an issue for the New Zealander.
Vips, Rossi, Rosenqvist, Lundqvist, Siegel, Simpson and Harvey also got bumped out.
Round 2
There was a big scare for Alex Palou as he got on the grass on the exit of turn 11 and very lightly hit the tyre barrier. Fortunately for the Spanish driver, he did not cause a red flag, only losing his best time up to that point.
A 58.9294 from Dixon on the blacks saw him lead Grosjean, Armstrong, Rahal, Newgarden and Power before the switch to reds.
Ericsson, Herta, Ferrucci, Palou, Lundgaard and Kirkwood needed to improve.
On the reds, Will Power was on fire. A 58.1196 put him over 0.2s clear of the field as Kirkwood, Palou, Lundgaard and Ferrucci all did 58.3s to make it through. Defending pole winner Graham Rahal also booked his spot in the Fast 6 with a 58.4066.
Newgarden, Grosjean, Armstrong, Herta, Dixon and Ericsson got knocked out. Herta was on a good lap but an enormous amount of wheelspin out of turn 7 cost him dearly. Newgarden down to Dixon all did 58.4s in a remarkably close session.
Fast 6
Having looked strong throughout qualifying, Santino Ferrucci put in a stunning 58.2046 to take a sensational maiden pole in IndyCar. Such was his dominance in the final segment, he did two laps good enough for pole. He beat Will Power by over a tenth in the end.
Palou, Lundgaard, Kirkwood and Rahal completed the order. Kirkwood and Rahal will drop 6 places on the grid because of unapproved engine changes.
