Alex Palou continued IndyCar’s run of different pole-winners this year in an extremely close qualifying session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
With hundredths of a second separating drivers around a sub-70 second lap of the grand prix circuit, at least two of Palou’s rivals squandered shots at pole position with errors at the end of the lap.
Will Power, who looked a strong candidate for pole as he tackled the final phase of qualifying with two sets of the softer alternate tyres, led the way to begin with. Christian Lundgaard took the top time off him, but squandered an advantage of several tenths of a second in the final sector.
Palou nicked the top time off him by nine hundredths of a second, but Power still had a run in hand. He got a little too greedy with the kerb in turn 10, however, and a dab of correction on the way out of the corner cost him previous tenths, and meant his wait for pole position this year continues.
The Fast Six shootout therefore ended with Palou and Lundgaard claiming the front row, with Power and Penske team mate Josef Newgarden occupying the second row. The winners of the two opening championship rounds, Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon, will line up behind them.
The narrow margins were felt most acutely in the Fast 12 session, where ninth-placed Graham Rahal was only a tenth of a second away from fifth place. Alexander Rossi and Marcus Armstrong will both start ahead of him. Felix Rosenqvist, Pietro Fittipaldi and Rinus Veekay also failed to progress beyond the penultiamte stage.
There were several big surprises in the first rounds. Championship leader Colton Herta failed to reach the Fast 12 as he stayed out for an extra lap but ran out of fuel. Romain Grosjean, who took his first IndyCar pole position at this track three years ago, will start one place ahead of him in 23rd, one place behind recent arrival Luca Ghiotto.
Scott McLaughlin, the winner in Barber Motorsport Park two weeks ago, also dropped out early and will start 13th.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Qualifying result
Times to follow
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
IndyCar
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at RaceFans…