Rossi storms to pole for Detroit GP Race 1

Rossi untouchable so far in Detroit

Andretti Autosport ace Alexander Rossi blistered the field on Friday, and when it counted on Saturday morning for pole for race 1, the American driving the #98 NAPA Honda was untouchable.

A full 7/10ths faster than Group1 fast man Josef Newgarden, Rossi's lap of 1m14.199s was 6/10ths faster than Scott Dixon in the #9 Ganassi Honda, who was his closest challenger in Group 2.

Starting 4th will be Dixon's teammate Felix Rosenqvist while rookie Colton Herta rounded out the top-5.

Group 2 qualifiers fill the odd number starting positions and the slower Group 2 qualifiers fill the even number starting positions.

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[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]No, he's not driving mad, like the TV said that he was last week. AT least that's what he said. But Alexander Rossi definitely is putting a hurt on the rest of the field this weekend. Driving a very loose car seems to be the order of the weekend, and Rossi seems to be the king of driving a loose car. The prior king of loose car driving is Scott Dixon, and he qualified second.

Look for rain… By the end of qualifications the skies had gone from Michigan blue to grey overcast. While showers missed the qualification attempts (and likely the IMSA race coming up), it looks to be a huge factor during the IndyCar race. Currently there is a large angry-red cell on the radar near Kalamazoo, moving down I94. Should this cell remain intact, it could bring strong thunderstorms, including lightning, hail, and plagues of locusts and frogs.

Talking to the IMSA drivers, driving the course was "enjoyable". It required constant attention, but seemed to bring smiles to those drivers. However, a driver who doesn't enjoy that "on the verge of control" oversteer won't like this track — and word from the Schmidt paddock is that James Hinchcliffe isn't liking it one bit. Hinch qualified a respectable 10th.

Rossi gets another pole sticker

Kudos to Zach Veech though. As it turns out, his leg wasn't merely bruised in his Indy 500 crash, it was… broken. Not one of those dislocated "OMG I see the bone sticking out" things, but the bones are cracked. Walking with a slight limp he will start 8th.

We also caught up with Pato O'Ward before qualifications. "Better miss the race than to endure 3 hours of misery" was O'Ward's take on missing the 500. "We were just slow" was the only reason he could give us as to why both he and team mate Max Chilton missed the race. O'Ward will start 7th. Chilton… 19th.

And walking through the pits during qualifications… Emmo. Looking healthy.

Group 1

Group 2

Lineup

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