Gateway IndyCar: Power edges Herta for first pole of 2021

Hot on the heels of his first victory in 2021 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course last time out, 2014 IndyCar champion Power denied Andretti Autosport driver Herta by less than 0.1mph to nail the 63rd open wheel pole position of his career.

The third driver to go out, Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet’s Felix Rosenqvist, became the first driver of the weekend to produce a 179mph lap and landed a two-lap average of 178.928mph. That was enough to survive strong efforts from Ed Jones (Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan) and 2012 IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti) until finally eclipsed by Alexander Rossi.

The Andretti driver became the first to produce two laps in the 179mph bracket as he posted a 179.731mph average, only for Power to come up with a first lap of 180.158mph – despite struggling with a downshift to fourth into Turn 1 – which he followed with a second lap of 181.081mph.

Power’s team-mate Simon Pagenaud came close to edging him, with a stronger first lap, but lost a tenth on the second lap where Power improved which left the 2016 champion vulnerable to Herta’s attack.

Sure enough, the 21-year-old's two 180.5mph laps resulted in second, with practice pace-setter Josef Newgarden also beating fellow Penske driver Pagenaud to take third. Newgarden produced the strongest second lap of anybody, but his first had been under the 180mph barrier.

Pato O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren SP entry claimed fifth, to beat Marcus Ericsson in the lead Chip Ganassi Racing machine by hundredths of a mile-per-hour, while Rossi will start seventh alongside six-time champion Scott Dixon.

Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet

Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

Graham Rahal’s average of precisely 179.000mph was enough to claim ninth, alongside Rosenqvist.

Penske’s rookie Scott McLaughlin appeared mildly tentative on his first flying lap, managing only 177.940mph, but his second lap was 179.898 – fastest of the day to that point – which helped him to take 11th spot.

Oval debutant Romain Grosjean looked very settled for Dale Coyne Racing with RWR, producing a two-lap average of 178.220mph despite a slightly messy second lap to qualify 14th in the 24-car field.

Championship leader Alex Palou’s fortunes took a knock, with only 12th fastest time, on top of his nine-place grid penalty for an early engine change. He will therefore start 21st.

The cars will now be impounded, with minimal changes allowed before the race start at 7.40pm local time.

Qualifying results

Cla	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Mph
1	Will Power	Team Penske	49.828		180.618
2	Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport	49.853	0.024	180.528
3	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	49.858	0.030	180.509
4	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	49.898	0.069	180.368
5	Patricio O'Ward	Arrow McLaren SP	50.029	0.200	179.894
6	Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing	50.044	0.216	179.839
7	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	50.114	0.285	179.589
8	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	50.142	0.313	179.488
9	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	50.279	0.450	179
10	Felix Rosenqvist	Arrow McLaren SP	50.299	0.470	178.928
11	Scott McLaughlin	Team Penske	50.303	0.474	178.914
12	Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing	50.398	0.569	178.579
13	Ed Jones	Dale Coyne Racing	50.454	0.625	178.380
14	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	50.460	0.631	178.357
15	Romain Grosjean	Dale Coyne Racing	50.499	0.670	178.220
16	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	50.536	0.707	178.090
17	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	50.597	0.768	177.875
18	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	50.796	0.967	177.179
19	Sébastien Bourdais	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	50.882	1.053	176.878
20	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport	50.896	1.068	176.828
21	Conor Daly	Carlin	50.978	1.149	176.547
22	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing	51.061	1.232	176.260
23	Rinus van Kalmthout	Ed Carpenter Racing	51.073	1.244	176.217
24	Dalton Kellett	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	51.486	1.657	174.803
View full results