Newgarden wins pole for 1st Road America IndyCar race
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| Josef Newgarden on pole |
Josef Newgarden turned the fastest lap in the stacked Group 2 qualifying group to win pole position for Saturday's 1st IndyCar race of a doubleheader weekend at Road America to be run today.
Newgarden's lap of 1m45.519s was 2/10ths of a sec faster than Jack Harvey who topped Group 1 and will start outside the front row.
Ryan Hunter-Reay had the 2nd fastest overall lap in his Andretti Honda but will start third behind Newgarden. Graham Rahal will start 4th with Will Power rounding out the top-5.
Last year's winner Alexander Rossi has not led a lap since and this week he is mired back in 11th starting position as he and his #27 Andretti crew remain out to lunch in 2020.
More to follow……….
Quotes
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JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Pole Winner
HOW WAS THE CAR TODAY AND WHAT DO YOU NEED TO BRING HOME THE WIN IN ROUND #1?
“It was a good day. I think I’m lucky today because I’m driving the PPG car. Every time we run this car we seem to have luck, whether it’s trying to get the pole of trying to win the race. So, we definitely had a good omen. The boys worked really hard trying to turn around from the GP. You know how this works. It’s been a fast day and the guys have had to be on-it with their decision-making. Compared to practice, I think we tried to get a little cheeky with our tire usage, and we were a little off-page with the other people, but Gavin (Ward, race engineer) and me tried to figure out the pieces that were good and put them back on the car then it worked out really well. So now, we’ve got to worry about the race car.
"Chevy gave us a great package. I think we made huge steps from where we were last year here. So thank you very much to Team Chevy! The PPG car is my favorite car I get to drive at Team Penske. I love these colors. Just need a little more to get it just right."
Group 1 Results (Outside Line for Race)
| Pos | No | Name | Time | Diff | Gap | Speed | Engine | Team |
| 1 | 60 | Jack Harvey | 1:45.729 | –.—- | –.—- | 136.674 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing |
| 2 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:45.759 | 0.0303 | 0.0303 | 136.635 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 3 | 18 | Santino Ferrucci | 1:45.770 | 0.0406 | 0.0103 | 136.621 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing w/Vasser Sull |
| 4 | 10 | Felix Rosenqvist | 1:45.847 | 0.1179 | 0.0773 | 136.522 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 5 | 98 | Marco Andretti | 1:45.989 | 0.2598 | 0.1419 | 136.339 | Honda | Andretti Herta w/Marco & Curb-Agaj |
| 6 | 5 | Pato O'Ward | 1:46.036 | 0.3066 | 0.0468 | 136.279 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 7 | 55 | Alex Palou | 1:46.126 | 0.3970 | 0.0904 | 136.163 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh |
| 8 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | 1:46.130 | 0.4011 | 0.0041 | 136.157 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 9 | 59 | Max Chilton | 1:46.388 | 0.6588 | 0.2577 | 135.828 | Chevy | Carlin |
| 10 | 26 | Zach Veach | 1:46.471 | 0.7417 | 0.0829 | 135.722 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 11 | 4 | Charlie Kimball | 1:47.686 | 1.9572 | 1.2155 | 134.190 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
Group 2 Results (Inside Line for Race)
| Pos | No | Name | Time | Diff | Gap | Speed | Engine | Team |
| 1 | 1 | Josef Newgarden | 1:45.519 | –.—- | –.—- | 136.946 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 2 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 1:45.656 | 0.1372 | 0.1372 | 136.768 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 3 | 12 | Will Power | 1:45.824 | 0.3053 | 0.1681 | 136.551 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 4 | 88 | Colton Herta | 1:45.861 | 0.3418 | 0.0365 | 136.504 | Honda | Andretti Harding Steinbrenner |
| 5 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:45.932 | 0.4133 | 0.0715 | 136.412 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 6 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 1:46.136 | 0.6174 | 0.2041 | 136.149 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 7 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 1:46.298 | 0.7789 | 0.1615 | 135.942 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 8 | 30 | Takuma Sato | 1:46.537 | 1.0177 | 0.2388 | 135.638 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 9 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:46.709 | 1.1899 | 0.1722 | 135.419 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 10 | 20 | Conor Daly | 1:46.811 | 1.2923 | 0.1024 | 135.289 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 11 | 7 | Oliver Askew | 1:47.113 | 1.5942 | 0.3019 | 134.908 | Chevy | Arrow McLaren SP |
| 12 | 14 | Dalton Kellett | 1:47.576 | 2.0570 | 0.4628 | 134.327 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
Starting Lineup
| St | No. | Driver | Engine | Time | Speed | Session |
| 1 | 1 | Newgarden, Josef | Chevy | 01:45.5191 | 136.946 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 2 | 60 | Harvey, Jack | Honda | 01:45.7290 | 136.674 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 3 | 28 | Hunter-Reay, Ryan | Honda | 01:45.6563 | 136.768 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 4 | 15 | Rahal, Graham | Honda | 01:45.7593 | 136.635 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 5 | 12 | Power, Will | Chevy | 01:45.8244 | 136.551 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 6 | 18 | Ferrucci, Santino | Honda | 01:45.7696 | 136.621 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 7 | 88 | Herta, Colton | Honda | 01:45.8609 | 136.504 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 8 | 10 | Rosenqvist, Felix | Honda | 01:45.8469 | 136.522 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 9 | 9 | Dixon, Scott | Honda | 01:45.9324 | 136.412 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 10 | 98 | Andretti, Marco | Honda | 01:45.9888 | 136.339 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 11 | 27 | Rossi, Alexander | Honda | 01:46.1365 | 136.149 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 12 | 5 | O'Ward, Pato | Chevy | 01:46.0356 | 136.279 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 13 | 8 | Ericsson, Marcus | Honda | 01:46.2980 | 135.942 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 14 | 55 | Palou, Alex (R) | Honda | 01:46.1260 | 136.163 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 15 | 30 | Sato, Takuma | Honda | 01:46.5368 | 135.638 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 16 | 21 | VeeKay, Rinus (R) | Chevy | 01:46.1301 | 136.157 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 17 | 22 | Pagenaud, Simon | Chevy | 01:46.7090 | 135.419 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 18 | 59 | Chilton, Max | Chevy | 01:46.3878 | 135.828 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 19 | 20 | Daly, Conor | Chevy | 01:46.8114 | 135.289 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 20 | 26 | Veach, Zach | Honda | 01:46.4707 | 135.722 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 21 | 7 | Askew, Oliver (R) | Chevy | 01:47.1133 | 134.908 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
| 22 | 4 | Kimball, Charlie | Chevy | 01:47.6862 | 134.190 | Qualifications / Group 1 |
| 23 | 14 | Kellett, Dalton (R) | Chevy | 01:47.5761 | 134.327 | Qualifications / Group 2 |
(R) Rookie
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