Harding Steinbrenner Racing’s Colton Herta claimed his maiden pole position in the NTT IndyCar Series with a stunning performance ahead of Sunday’s REV Group Grand Prix at Road America, the youngest in the series history.
Herta pulled out a stunning effort in the Fast Six shootout to beat Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi to the top spot. The pair consistently exchanged the fastest times over the course of the afternoon with very little to choose between them.
Rossi looked set to get his second pole position of the season but was unable to keep up with the ferocious pace of the 19-year old Herta around the Elkhart Lake circuit.
Team Penske will occupy the second row with Will Power and championship leader Josef Newgarden lining up third and fourth respectively.
It looked at one stage the IndyCar powerhouse may not make it as they appeared to struggle early on, however, they were able to find the pace albeit unable to challenge for pole.
Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing continued their strong run in 2019 as both Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato both made it into the Fast Six. Rahal will start fifth ahead of Sato in sixth. The Japanese driver looked set to improve on his final run but made two mistakes in Turn 3 and 4 and lost too much time.
Four-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais will head up the fourth row in seventh ahead of Ed Carpenter Racing’s Spencer Pigot, behind them are Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe and Marco Andretti who round out the top 10.
Reigning series champion Scott Dixon was unable to progress from the Fast 12 and will start far back in the field, this was due to an issue with the Honda engine in his #9 PNC Bank car after smoke was seen pouring from the car on his in-lap after progressing from the first group of qualifying.
Fellow Honda runner Santino Ferrucci failed to set time on the red-marked Firestone tyres due to an issue with his #19 Cly-Del car, it is unclear as to what caused the car to stop on the pit exit.
Sunday’s 55-lap REV Group Grand Prix of Road America will get underway at 11:45am local time.
