IndyCar Barber: Grosjean beats Palou to take second pole of the year

Andretti Autosport’s Grosjean was fastest initially in the top six pole shootout with a 1m06.0289s, 0.0341s ahead of Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren, but on fresher tyres Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin displaced him at the head of the times.

However, Grosjean, who lost an engine yesterday, delivered a 1m05.8396s with his fourth lap and it was Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing who came closest, just 0.0734s adrift.

It is the second pole of the season for Grosjean, and the fifth of his IndyCar career.

The top four were covered by just 0.112s, as O’Ward was a hair quicker than McLaughlin to take third.

Scott Dixon made it two Ganassi cars in the top five, ahead of the impressive Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan, just 0.32s from the top spot.

In Q2, two Penskes of Will Power and Josef Newgarden dropped out, while winner last time out Kyle Kirkwood spun on cold tyres exiting the pits to see his early exit confirmed.

Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

Photo by: Jake Galstad / Motorsport Images

Newgarden will start seventh in front of Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist, with Rinus VeeKay ninth having almost collided with Power during the middle session of qualifying vying for space on the track to start a lap.

Alexander Rossi will start the Barber race from 10th for Arrow McLaren ahead of Power and Kirkwood.

In Q1, Colton Herta was a surprise elimination in the second group, while in the first group Newgarden’s final effort bumped points leader Marcus Ericsson out early.

IndyCar Barber - Qualifying results

P	Name	FTime	Diff	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Tire	Team
1	Romain Grosjean	1:05.8396	1:05.8396	4	4	125.760	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport
2	Alex Palou	1:05.9130	0.0734	5	5	125.620	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
3	Pato O'Ward	1:05.9382	0.0986	4	4	125.572	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren
4	Scott McLaughlin	1:05.9515	0.1119	3	4	125.547	Chevy	A	Team Penske
5	Scott Dixon	1:06.0723	0.2327	5	5	125.317	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
6	Christian Lundgaard	1:06.1601	0.3205	3	3	125.151	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

P	Name	FTime	Diff	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Tire	Team
1	Romain Grosjean	1:05.6829	1:05.6829	7	8	126.060	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport
2	Pato O'Ward	1:05.7512	0.0683	6	7	125.929	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren
3	Scott McLaughlin	1:05.8061	0.1232	8	8	125.824	Chevy	A	Team Penske
4	Alex Palou	1:05.8386	0.1557	7	8	125.762	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	Christian Lundgaard	1:05.8661	0.1832	6	7	125.710	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
6	Scott Dixon	1:05.8986	0.2157	7	7	125.648	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
7	Josef Newgarden	1:05.9603	0.2774	7	8	125.530	Chevy	A	Team Penske
8	Felix Rosenqvist	1:06.0930	0.4101	7	8	125.278	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren
9	Rinus VeeKay	1:06.1222	0.4393	7	8	125.223	Chevy	A	Ed Carpenter Racing
10	Alexander Rossi	1:06.2091	0.5262	7	7	125.058	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren
11	Will Power	1:06.3790	0.6961	6	7	124.738	Chevy	A	Team Penske
12	Kyle Kirkwood	1:06.3963	0.7134	7	7	124.706	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport

Q1 Group 2

P	Name	FTime	Diff	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Tire	Team
1	Alex Palou	1:05.5871	1:05.5871	7	8	126.244	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	Pato O'Ward	1:05.7400	0.1529	6	7	125.951	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren
3	Scott McLaughlin	1:05.7478	0.1607	7	8	125.936	Chevy	A	Team Penske
4	Christian Lundgaard	1:05.8342	0.2471	7	8	125.770	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
5	Felix Rosenqvist	1:05.8696	0.2825	7	8	125.703	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren
6	Will Power	1:05.9768	0.3897	7	8	125.499	Chevy	A	Team Penske
7	Colton Herta	1:06.1850	0.5979	7	8	125.104	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian
8	Simon Pagenaud	1:06.2433	0.6562	6	7	124.994	Honda	A	Meyer Shank Racing
9	Devlin DeFrancesco	1:06.4415	0.8544	6	7	124.621	Honda	A	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
10	Conor Daly	1:06.4810	0.8939	7	7	124.547	Chevy	A	Ed Carpenter Racing
11	Agustin Canapino	1:06.5158	0.9287	6	7	124.482	Chevy	A	Juncos Holling Racing
12	Jack Harvey	1:06.7181	1.1310	7	8	124.104	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
13	Marcus Armstrong	1:07.2378	1.6507	8	8	123.145	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
14	Santino Ferrucci	3:49.1462	2:43.5591	1	1	36.134	Chevy	P	AJ Foyt Enterprises

Q1 Group 1

P	Name	FTime	Diff	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Tire	Team
1	Josef Newgarden	1:05.5883	1:05.5883	8	8	126.242	Chevy	A	Team Penske
2	Romain Grosjean	1:05.6839	0.0956	8	8	126.058	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport
3	Alexander Rossi	1:05.6939	0.1056	7	8	126.039	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren
4	Kyle Kirkwood	1:05.7353	0.1470	7	7	125.960	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport
5	Scott Dixon	1:05.7721	0.1838	7	8	125.889	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
6	Rinus VeeKay	1:05.7808	0.1925	7	7	125.873	Chevy	A	Ed Carpenter Racing
7	Marcus Ericsson	1:05.9207	0.3324	7	8	125.605	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
8	Callum Ilott	1:06.0642	0.4759	6	7	125.333	Chevy	A	Juncos Hollinger Racing
9	David Malukas	1:06.1851	0.5968	6	6	125.104	Honda	A	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
10	Graham Rahal	1:06.2504	0.6621	6	7	124.980	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
11	Helio Castroneves	1:06.2715	0.6832	6	6	124.941	Honda	A	Meyer Shank Racing
12	Sting Ray Robb	1:06.5925	1.0042	7	7	124.338	Honda	A	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
13	Benjamin Pedersen	1:06.9327	1.3444	6	7	123.706	Chevy	A	AJ Foyt Enterprises