IndyCar: Herta schools field to win pole for inaugural Music City GP

No. 26 Gainbridge Honda driver Colton Herta schooled the field to win pole for the inaugural Music City GP IndyCar race on the streets of Nashville.

After leading both practice sessions, Herta won the pole by a massive 0.55s over Scott Dixon who was 2nd quick in the Q3 Fast Six round.

Dixon teammate Alex Palou was 3rd quick in the #10 Ganassi Honda but will have a six Place grid penalty so Alexander Rossi who was 4th quick will move up to third for the start.

Felix Rosenqvist will start 4th and Romain Grosjean rounds out the top-5 in the #51 Dale Coyne Honda.

Hometown hero Josef Newgarden clouted the wall hard in Q2 in his #2 Penske Chevy and will start 12th. Jimmie Johnson also crashed out in Q1 in his #48 Ganassi Honda.

Herta, who was fastest in both practice sessions this weekend, continued to dominate the speed charts with a lap of 1 minute, 13.6835 seconds (102.601 mph) on the 2.17-mile temporary street course to secure the NTT P1 Award and top starting position. The pole was Herta’s second of the season – the other came at St. Petersburg – and sixth of his career. He is expecting quite an opening lap in this 80-lap race featuring the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge and the Nissan Stadium campus.

“I think this is going to be the craziest start of the year,” said Herta, who has converted his last three pole positions into victories. “We’re going to be going quite quick from where the start zone is going into off-camber a second-gear corner. That’s like 60 miles an hour, 70 miles an hour. So definitely, it’s going to be interesting.

“There’s not a whole bunch of ways to bail, turn into the corner. If guys are committing three-wide, it could get a little bit messy. You’re probably expecting to see something happen on the opening lap, in the opening corner.”

Herta was followed by the Chip Ganassi Racing duo of six-time series champion Scott Dixon and current championship points leader Alex Palou. Dixon will start second after his lap of 1:14.2327 (101.842 mph) while Palou will start third with his lap of 1:14.6316 (101.298 mph).

“This track is busy, man,” Dixon said of this technical and challenging layout. “That’s the best description you can give it. There’s no rest part. Even the straights are bumpy. Getting into the braking zones after the straights are really difficult because the car is really loaded, change of direction, things like that. It’s a tough track.”

Rounding out the Firestone Fast Six qualifying shootout, Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi (1:14.6646 / 101.253 mph) will start fourth, Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist fifth (1:15.0045 / 100.794 mph) and rookie Romain Grosjean sixth (1:15.3980 / 100.268 mph).

Nashville’s Josef Newgarden of Team Penske will start 12th (1:15.5062 / 100.124 mph) in the 27-car field but incurred some misfortune in qualifying. In the second round of the three-round format, he crashed into the Turn 11 wall on his final lap. The incident caused damage to Newgarden’s car and also caused his fastest lap in the session to be invalidated for causing a local yellow condition. His invalidated lap was fast enough to have advanced him to the Firestone Fast Six.

“I was just trying to make up the deficit from yesterday and today,” Newgarden said. “Pretty pumped for tomorrow. Just wish we were a little higher up. Trying to claw some performance there and just overpushed. You can’t wreck and not get penalized. That’s on me. That’s how it works.”

Q1 – Round 1, Group 2

Pos	No.	Name	Time	Diff	Gap	Laps	Speed	Engine	Team
1	9	Scott Dixon	1:14.6673	0.000s	0.000s	7	101.249	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	26	Colton Herta	1:14.7067	0.0394	0.0394	4	101.196	Honda	Andretti Autosport
3	60	Jack Harvey	1:15.2585	0.5912	0.5518	6	100.454	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
4	29	James Hinchcliffe	1:15.2646	0.5973	0.0061	6	100.446	Honda	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
5	22	Simon Pagenaud	1:15.3661	0.6988	0.1015	6	100.310	Chevy	Team Penske
6	51	Romain Grosjean	1:15.3730	0.7057	0.0069	6	100.301	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
7	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1:15.4984	0.8311	0.1254	7	100.135	Honda	Andretti Autosport
8	14	Sebastien Bourdais	1:15.6055	0.9382	0.1071	6	99.993	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
9	8	Marcus Ericsson	1:15.6379	0.9706	0.0324	6	99.950	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
10	20	Conor Daly	1:15.6685	1.0012	0.0306	6	99.909	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
11	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:15.7029	1.0356	0.0344	5	99.864	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
12	30	Takuma Sato	1:15.8503	1.1830	0.1474	6	99.670	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
13	18	Ed Jones	1:15.8770	1.2097	0.0267	6	99.635	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan
14	52	Cody Ware	1:17.6115	2.9442	1.7345	6	97.408	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing

Q1 – Round 1, Group 1

Pos	No.	Name	Time	Diff	Gap	Laps	Speed	Engine	Team
1	10	Alex Palou	1:15.3385	0.000	0.000	4	100.347	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	27	Alexander Rossi	1:15.3721	0.0336	0.0336	4	100.302	Honda	Andretti Autosport
3	5	Pato O’Ward	1:15.4160	0.0775	0.0439	4	100.244	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
4	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:15.5305	0.1920	0.1145	4	100.092	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
5	2	Josef Newgarden	1:15.5474	0.2089	0.0169	4	100.070	Chevy	Team Penske
6	12	Will Power	1:15.6309	0.2924	0.0835	4	99.959	Chevy	Team Penske
7	15	Graham Rahal	1:16.1097	0.7712	0.4788	4	99.330	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
8	59	Max Chilton	1:17.5553	2.2168	1.4456	4	97.479	Chevy	Carlin
9	06	Helio Castroneves	1:17.9138	2.5753	0.3585	3	97.030	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
10	45	Santino Ferrucci	1:18.0427	2.7042	0.1289	3	96.870	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
11	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:18.1899	2.8514	0.1472	4	96.688	Chevy	Team Penske
12	4	Dalton Kellett	1:18.2067	2.8682	0.0168	3	96.667	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
13	48	Jimmie Johnson	No Time	—	—	—	—	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing

Q2 – Round 2

Pos	No	Name	Time	Diff	Gap	Laps	Speed	Engine	Team
1	10	Alex Palou	1:14.4578	0.000s	0.000	7	101.534	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
2	27	Alexander Rossi	1:14.5252	0.0674	0.0674	7	101.442	Honda	Andretti Autosport
3	26	Colton Herta	1:14.7232	0.2654	0.1980	7	101.173	Honda	Andretti Autosport
4	9	Scott Dixon	1:14.8394	0.3816	0.1162	7	101.016	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:14.8476	0.3898	0.0082	6	101.005	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
6	51	Romain Grosjean	1:15.0078	0.5500	0.1602	6	100.790	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing
7	60	Jack Harvey	1:15.1309	0.6731	0.1231	6	100.624	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
8	22	Simon Pagenaud	1:15.1354	0.6776	0.0045	6	100.618	Chevy	Team Penske
9	5	Pato O’Ward	1:15.1914	0.7336	0.0560	6	100.543	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
10	29	James Hinchcliffe	1:15.3255	0.8677	0.1341	7	100.364	Honda	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
11	12	Will Power	1:15.4678	1.0100	0.1423	7	100.175	Chevy	Team Penske
12	2	Josef Newgarden	1:15.5062	1.0484	0.0384	6	100.124	Chevy	Team Penske

Q3 – Fast Six

Pos	No	Name	Time	Diff	Gap	Laps	Speed	Engine	Team
1	26	Colton Herta	1:13.6835	0.000s	0.000	3	102.601	Honda	Andretti Autosport
2	9	Scott Dixon	1:14.2327	0.5492	0.5492	3	101.842	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
3	10	Alex Palou	1:14.6316	0.9481	0.3989	4	101.298	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
4	27	Alexander Rossi	1:14.6646	0.9811	0.0330	4	101.253	Honda	Andretti Autosport
5	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:15.0045	1.3210	0.3399	2	100.794	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
6	51	Romain Grosjean	1:15.3980	1.7145	0.3935	3	100.268	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/Rick Ware Racing

Full Results

1. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 1:13.6835 (102.601 mph)
2. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 1:14.2327 (101.842)
3. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 1:14.6316 (101.298)
4. (27) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 1:14.6646 (101.253)
5. (7) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 1:15.0045 (100.794)
6. (51) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 1:15.3980 (100.268)
7. (60) Jack Harvey, Honda, 1:15.1309 (100.624)
8. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 1:15.1354 (100.618)
9. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 1:15.1914 (100.543)
10. (29) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 1:15.3255 (100.364)
11. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 1:15.5016 (100.130)
12. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1:15.5062 (100.124)
13. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 1:16.1097 (99.330)
14. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 1:15.4984 (100.135)
15. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 1:16.3479 (99.020)
16. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 1:15.6055 (99.993)
17. (45) Santino Ferrucci, Honda, 1:16.4647 (98.869)
18. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 1:15.6379 (99.950)
19. (4) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 1:17.1516 (97.989)
20. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 1:15.6685 (99.909)
21. (59) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 1:17.5553 (97.479)
22. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 1:15.7029 (99.864)
23. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 1:18.1899 (96.688)
24. (30) Takuma Sato, Honda, 1:15.8503 (99.670)
25. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, No Time (No Speed)
26. (18) Ed Jones, Honda, 1:15.8770 (99.635)
27. (52) Cody Ware, Honda, 1:18.0928 (96.808)