Alexander Rossi’s recent turn of speed in the 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series has just seen him claim his first pole position in more than three full years this Saturday (June 11) at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
It was a strategy call from Rossi’s Andretti Autosport team not to pit the American driver that made the difference in his session, allowing him to continue turning fast laps on a set of primary black Firestone tires. Josef Newgarden, on reds, ultimately came up just 0.0715 of a second short, followed by defending champion Alex Palou, Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta, all on blacks. Pato O’Ward, in sixth, was the only other driver to use the reds in the Fast Six session.
Rain hovered just to the west of the four-mile Road America circuit for the entirety of qualifying. Though the track was never more than damp, the pressure was on both drivers and teams to deliver fast laps early and often.
With a big oversteer moment at the exit of Canada Corner, Detroit winner Will Power barely missed out on the Firestone Fast Twelve in Round 1. David Malukas made the Fast Six for the first time in his career last time out in Detroit, but narrowly missed out on the Fast Twelve by just over .030 of a second, giving the final spot to Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who made a big save on the exit of Canada Corner in the closing seconds of the first round.
With teams expecting rain in the Fast Twelve session, the full field headed out on the asphalt, hoping to squeeze in one fast lap before the heavens opened. But a red flag for Juncos-Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott going into the barriers in turn 14 stopped all drivers in their tracks, eliminating the rookie Englishman from the session.
Luckily, the rain held off as marshals removed the No. 77 while Ilott drove it back to the pits. With five minutes remaining, the full field went back out to finish qualifying.
A transmission issue for Romain Grosjean delayed the No. 28…
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