Pole position in Toronto for Colton Herta makes it his third of the season, the most of any driver on the grid.
The Californian achieved it in style, having topped both free practice sessions and now qualifying too, he currently sits in a position to sweep the weekend if a win is achieved tomorrow.
It is not as easy as it sounds, something Herta has found as he will be looking to bring an end to his winless streak that has lasted for over two years.
Round 1 Group 1
The opening session of qualifying in Toronto surprised nobody as an early interjection from a red flag thanks to IndyCar rookie Hunter McLrea making his indycar debut, finding the wall at turn 8 as so many before him have so far this weekend.
What we did get once the session restarted was a good old fashioned boxing match between three different teams to top the group as Scott McLauglin, Felix Rosenqvist and Kyle Kirkwood all traded times for P1, with the latter achieving it by the time the session came to a close.
The major talking point from the session was championship contender and two time winner in Toronto, Scott Dixon, not advancing. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver was seen to be chasing the rear end of his car on the exit of turn four on the last crucial run as times tumbled.
Out: Armstrong, Dixon, Ferrucci, Siegel, Sowery, Fittipaldi and McLrea
Round 1 Group 2
Whilst the second group of qualifying went without any flags wreaking havoc to the teams’ run plans, it was not short of chaos. With it being the larger group there was always expected to be traffic, and traffic there was.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward found himself the victim of this as he got caught up on a fast lap with two minutes to go, impeded by championship leader Alex Palou, who was found at fault and docked his two fastest laps relegating him to below the cut line.
What this did mean was Agustin Canapino would advance alongside teammate Romain Grosjean, Juncos showing strong pace in qualifying.
It was a close session as the lead once again found itself changing hands before Will Power grasped a hold of it by the end of the session. Followed closely by Marcus Ericcsson and Herta.
Elsewhere in the session, Theo Pourchaire remarkably did not qualify last, despite him arriving to the circuit less than an hour before the start of qualifying, he still managed to pip Sting Ray Robb to 26th after setting his competitive laps on a race track since before Long Beach.
Out: O’Ward, Lundgaard, Palou, Simpson, Veekay, Lundqvist, Pourchaire and Robb.
Fast 12
The fast 12 was remarkably less chaotic as what had come before, the biggest moment of the session was one by Will Power who powerslided his way through turn seven.
This mistake contributed to him not making the fast six as times got quicker and quicker, going well below the minute mark, Rosenqvist setting the fastest time of the session with a 59.5.
His teammate David Malukas also bumped his way in right at the end despite a brief scare as he went down the escape road in turn 4. He was not docked his fastest lap though as it was deemed it had no effect on Herta who was not on a fast lap and made the final session regardless.
Out: Newgarden, Rahal, Power, Canapino, Ericsson and Rasmussen.
Fast 6
The final six minute session went by in a flash as the two Andretti cars who finished 1-2 in FP2 only a few hours earlier found themselves battling in a similar position come qualifying.
In the end it was Herta who got the best of his teammate Kyle Kirkwood, beating him with his last lap of the session by over a tenth.
Behind Herta, Kirkwood made it an Andretti front row lockout and was followed by Rosenqvist, McLauglin, Grosjean and Malukas.
