Scott McLaughlin took the second pole position of his NTT IndyCar Series career during Saturday’s (Aug. 6) qualifying for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tenn.
McLaughlin will share the front row with Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean, while Christian Lungaard and Alex Palou will line up third and fourth for Sunday’s race.
“The car was phenomenal,” McLaughlin said.
“To do that on one-lap used tires, that was our fastest lap of the qualifying session I think. Oh man, just one of those good laps.”
Tire wear weighed on the minds of all teams as the weather-delayed qualifying session progressed. Firestone’s new guayule alternate tires were quickly mauled by the course’s abrasive surface through the first two sessions, with their lifespan extending slightly through the Fast 12 and Fast Six outings.
Teams are expected to start on the alternate tires tomorrow and pit for the black walled Firestone Primary tires early in the race.
Round One Group One
Qualifying for the first group of round one was put on hold as quickly as it began when Devlin DeFrancesco’s Andretti Autosport Honda came to a stop in turn 4, triggering a red flag and ensuring the Canadian rookie would not advance past round one.
With barely a minute remaining, Colton Herta, who dominated last year’s race, locked up under braking for turn 4, planting his No. 26 Honda in the tire barrier, triggering the second red flag of the session. Herta was 0.207 seconds up on the cutoff time at the moment he crashed out.
“That was just a little bit too ambitious for what the conditions were,” Herta told NBC’s Dave Burns after the accident. “Just trying to find the right braking point and I overdid it… it was really an honest mistake.”
Eliminated from group one were:
Simon Pagenaud
Felix Rosenqvist
Alexander Rossi
Callum Ilott
Devlin DeFrancesco
Simona De Silvestro
Round One Group Two
Group two’s session played out in a much cleaner manner, with no on-track incidents, nor any yellow or red flags. However, Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Marcus Ericsson and Scott Dixon failed to put up lap times sufficient to advance to the Firestone Fast 12.
Dixon has now missed the Fast 12 in the last four races.
Eliminated from group two were:
Scott Dixon
Kyle Kirkwood
Marcus Ericsson
Takuma Sato
Conor Daly
Helio Castroneves
Jimmie Johnson
Fast 12
Heartbreak struck championship leader Will Power in the form of a penalty for causing a local yellow.
The Australian…
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