Colton Herta, winner of the last two NTT INDYCAR SERIES P1 Pole Awards was eliminated in the opening round of qualifying on Saturday in Toronto. Alex Palou, winner of the last three races in the series was also eliminated in Round 1 too. They’ll start 14th (Herta) and 15th (Palou) respectively.
As a result, it set up a wild qualifying round for which rain came at the end of the first group but cleared up for the second group. However, the 1.786-mile street course was soaked which created chaos.
Romain Grosjean got off course and also spun too. Colton Herta went into the runoff and cost him from advancing. Agustin Canapino spun, Graham Rahal got into the wall and Alexander Rossi stalled.
It set up a wild session for which RLL teammates Christian Lundgaard and Graham Rahal start on opposite ends of the field with Lundgaard on the pole and Rahal in last.
Lundgaard ran a last second lap of 1:04.1567-seconds in his No. 45 Dallara-Honda to score his second career pole. As a result, the Danish driver will lead the field to green for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto (1:30 p.m. ET, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network).
Rahal spun and got into the wall in the first round and said that the RLL program has been struggling for street course pace and even more in wet weather. Lundgaard admitted that they also struggled in the wet race at Indy last year.
Still, he found enough to pull out the pole to give RLL their 34th career pole and second of the season.
Scott McLaughlin (1:04.4790seconds) evaded penalties to qualify second in his No. 3 Dallara-Chevrolet. Pato O’Ward (1:04.5500-seconds) will share Row 2 with Marcus Ericsson (1:04.9091-seconds).
Felix Rosenqvist (1:04.9423-seconds) and Will Power (1:05.0703-seocnds) rounded out the Fast Six.
Lundgaard Backs Comments Up With Pole
Graham Rahal felt like this would be a tough weekend for the RLL camp. Despite this being a turning point for this organization last year, the organization struggled in the last street course race at Detroit.
“Detroit was a major disappointment, which worries me a little for Toronto because I think there’s still a lot of questions for us on our street course package,” Rahal also admitted in Mid-Ohio. “But the road course package, you look at Indy GP, you look Road America, and you look here, and we’ve been competitive.”
It’s no secret that the street course program for RLL is lacking in comparison to the natural road courses. They finished 6-9-22 in St. Pete, 12-13-14 in Long Beach and 16-17-25 in Detroit.
However, Lundgaard didn’t share Rahal’s outlook. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
“Honestly, I do think that we’re going to have a fast car,” he said on Wednesday of this week. “We made a lot of progress going into that weekend last year. I think at the time in the season it was my best qualifying result, and I think at the time as well, it was the best finish we had that year up until that point.
“Just thinking about that, I think, we knew that we were making progress that part of the year of last year, and already now, we’ve seen an increase in performance early in the season. We outperformed ourselves compared to last year in Mid-Ohio. So we just need to stay on that trajectory.
“I think going into Toronto, it’s very important that we keep our head cool and kind of focus on our own stuff. Then I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but I do think we can come away with at least a match of a fourth or potentially even a podium.”
As far as why his views were different and why he’s faring better results wise than his two teammates, Lundgaard thought that it’s because of his vast array of cars that he’s driven overseas and the evolution of them has given him experience from every which way that he can.
“I think, because I’m so young and I’ve driven a lot of cars in Europe that’s, in my opinion, quite difficult to drive and I’ve also driven some easy ones and just my experience with the F1 team back in a few years ago when I was doing a lot of simulator work, you’re just very involved and you drive a lot of different cars, a lot of different — I wouldn’t necessarily just call it setups, but the evolution of different cars, and you understand the differences and how you need to drive certain cars,” he says.
“I wouldn’t say you develop the skill, but you sort of do. You just get a better understanding, and you improve your talent. I guess that’s why on certain occasions Graham will complain more about the car than I will because we kind of just get on with it.
“We saw the car this weekend was in a good window for him at Mid-Ohio, and he was fast. There’s no question that Graham is a good driver, same for Jack, but I just think I can do things they can’t do just because of my previous experiences.”
Mic drop on Saturday. In the rain, Rahal qualified last (27th). Jack Harvey was in 19th. Lundgaard?
Pole.
Rahal has qualified 20th, 24th, 27th and 27th on street races. Harvey 19th, 15th, 25th and 19th.
Lundgaard is sticking out and one that’s thriving where his teammates are struggling.
Which his why despite RLL expected to possibly struggle over the next four races, Lundgaard is more confident than his teammates are heading into them.
You have Toronto this weekend, a doubleheader in Iowa next followed by Nashville the first weekend of August.
On ovals this year, granted they were superspeedways, RLL finished 18-19-24 and 18-19-33.
Lundgaard though, feels like the momentum is there still and that most of these tracks at the end of the schedule are perfect places to finish even further up than they did a year ago.
“Honestly, right now obviously we’re optimistic, leaving Mid-Ohio,” he told me. “I think last year the best car qualified 13th, which was just not transferring from the first qualifying group. This year we had two cars in the Fast Six and one on the Front Row and me in 5th, and we had Jack up in 11th as well.
“Just looking at that specific race from last year to this year, we moved a lot, and we really struggled at Mid-Ohio last year. Now we’re coming into a track where we didn’t necessarily struggle as much, but we built a good foundation for Nashville at Toronto last year, and we were very competitive at Nashville.
“So coming in here, I do think, just looking at that, that it is sort of a turning point, at least I hope so. We want to continue building on what we’re building on now and basically don’t really leave those performances.”
RLL was able to pick up test days recently in Sebring and at Iowa too. It was the Sebring test a year ago for which propelled them forward. Does the Iowa one this year do the same?
In 2022, in the same street races preceding Toronto, RLL finished 7-11-13 in St. Pete, 7-15-18 in Long Beach and 14-15-26 in Belle Isle. They went to work at Sebring in the middle of the summer to help them learn for Toronto and Nashville.
It paid off.
RLL went 4-8-19 in Toronto and 8-10-23 in Nashville.
They’re stronger everywhere already this season for the most part which with what Rahal says vs. what Lundgaard said, who’s right?
So far, it’s Lundgaard.
Herta Picks Wrong Group, Rain Costs Andretti Autosport Overall
As the quickest driver on the combined speed chart, Colton Herta was able to pick which group that he wanted to be in for qualifying. Most people may not fully understand the qualifying groups, but to take a deeper dive, they’re determined by the overall speed chart for the race weekend.
For this weekend in particular, we had a 75-minute practice session on Friday and a 60-minute practice session on Saturday. They take all the times from both sessions and order them 1-27. With Herta’s lap time on Saturday morning being P1, he had the choice.
So, everyone behind him that was odd on the speed charts (3rd, 5th, 7th, 9th, etc) would be in whatever group that Herta chooses. Everyone in 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th and so on would be in the opposite group from Herta.
Between practice and qualifying, Herta chose Group 2. Which most drivers that are quickest do so because you get more grip on the track from the opening 12 minute group putting down rubber on the racing surface.
This time, it came back to bite them.
That’s because Herta’s car was so good in the dry conditions. He was fourth on Friday and first on Saturday. But rain is the great equalizer and sparked a messy second group. Which as a result, cost Herta a chance of shining and advancing on.
“We were definitely a lot better in the day than we were in the wet,” Herta said. “We seemed to just not have the rear end, struggled with wheelspin. I just couldn’t get the lap time down two what the other guys were doing.
“If it’s a rain race tomorrow, it’s good to get this bit of practice in, so maybe we can make some adjustments.”
This was the 5th time in the last 7 races that Herta has qualified 14th or worse including 3 of those 5 him starting in 14th. The previous 2 times was in Barber to where he finished where he started and then finishing 9th in May’s GMR Grand Prix.
The two times that he didn’t start 14th or worse, he was on the pole which ironically enough, was the last two races prior. He also won the pole here last year.
The rain didn’t affect just him, but all of his teammates too.
Andretti Autosport went 1-2 on Friday and 1-2 again on Saturday. In fact, a day after going 1-2-4-, they went 1-2-7 this morning and looked like the clear pole favorites.
What’s wild is, none of their drivers made the Fast Six.
Devlin DeFrancesco (22nd) joined Herta on the outside looking after the opening round. Then in the second round, Kyle Kirkwood and Romain Grosjean didn’t have enough on the wets to get to the final round.
Kirkwood starts eighth and Grosjean ninth.
Kirkwood was 1st and 2nd respectively in practice this weekend and also has a pole back in April at Long Beach.
Grosjean was 2nd and 7th himself but had qualified in the top three for every street race this season prior to today.
Andretti had a car on the front row for 6 of the first 9 races this season. They have 1 win to show for it. Can they pick up a win on Sunday without a car in the Fast Six?
Palou Leaves Door Open, But Challengers Don’t Come Fully Through
It’s not been a great weekend so far for points leader Alex Palou. A cut tire on his laps on the Firestone alternate tires on Friday left him down in 12th on the speed charts. While he rebounded to fourth on Saturday morning, he just didn’t have the pace in qualifying later on in the day. He’d only qualify 15th.
Palou was in the drop zone when rain began to fall on the 1.786-mile street course and when needing a big lap to get himself into the next round, mother nature didn’t allow.
Even with the excuse of rain, Palou didn’t take the bait saying that they just didn’t have enough speed in general to do so.
“I wouldn’t say that much, honestly,” Palou said when asked if weather cost him from advancing. “We just didn’t really put together everything we had. We had a lot more pace than that, but we couldn’t really improve on alternates, so it’s a shame that we’re going to have to start from the back, but we know that we have a fast car and we can make it from there.
“As soon as you start further down than 10th it’s going to be a busy race. We’re going to have that tomorrow, our first one of the year, hopefully the last one. We’ll have to work for it, for sure.”
Now, the door was back open again for the championship contenders. While Palou who enters this weekend with a 110 point gap on the competition will still leave Toronto with the points lead, the question is, does it drop and if so, by how much.
Starting 15th on a street circuit isn’t ideal, but Palou qualified 22nd here last year too and came through the field to finish sixth. So, with this being his worst start of the year (previous worst was 7th) and worst start in the last 15 races, he still rebounded from qualifying 11th in last year’s season finale at Monterey to win by half of a minute too.
Also, it’s not like his main competition thrived.
Scott Dixon was only 11th and 8th in practice and qualified just 7th. Josef Newgarden was 9th in both practice session and will roll off 11th.
Ericsson Leading Ganassi Group
Marcus Ericsson looks like the Ganassi leader so far. He was the top driver in the camp in both practices (6th, 3rd) and now in qualifying
Can he be the top Ganassi finisher on Sunday?
Ericsson finished fifth last year and has 2 podiums (1st, 3rd) in 3 street course starts this season.
Alex Palou went from 12th to fourth in practice but starts in 15th. He was sixth here a year ago but has also finished eighth, fifth and first respectively on street courses this season. He’s won 4 of the last 5 races on the season including three in-a-row.
Scott Dixon went from 11th on Friday to 8th on Saturday too. He’ll roll off 7th. The “Ice Man” won in 2018, was runner-up in 2019 and won again in 2022 for three consecutive top two finishes on this track. Dixon also has 10 straight Toronto top 10’s including four wins and a runner-up in that span. He also qualifies well here too. He’s started in the top 10 in all 15 tries now including 11 of which in the Fast 6. Since 2015, he’s qualified 4th, 1st, 5th, 2nd, 2nd, 2nd and 7th respectively. On street courses this season, Dixon has finished 3rd in St. Pete and while he was last in Long Beach, he had a top five car before that incident with O’Ward and fourth in Detroit.
Rookie Marcus Armstrong went from 22nd to 19th to qualifying 12th.
Ganassi has won 4 of the last 5 street course races.
Rosenqvist Thriving, Even After Practice Crash
Felix Rosenqvist is facing the harsh reality. He knows that a chance of winning a championship this season is highly unlikely. He enters Sunday’s race 13th in points (-214). To make up that much ground in eight races is a rather tall task to accomplish.
Which is why if Rosenqvist has a shot at a win from here on out, he’ll be overly aggressive in doing so.
“I think like we’re not here to be P12 or P11. I think a win or something like that would be a good way to kind of end at the end of the season,” said Rosenqvist. “I think there’s some good tracks for us coming up. Just kind of — I think more than anything, being able to string together some race results and feeling like we didn’t leave anything on the table would be a rewarding feeling after having some troubled races.
“Yeah, I know we can be there if we just do the job. Yeah, just going for the win.”
Maybe that comes this weekend. The Swedish driver was third quickset in practice on Friday (1:00.86-7-seconds) and despite a crash in Saturday morning’s session, he qualified fifth in a backup car later on in the day.
“I think you approach it a bit differently,” he said. “Maybe you try to go for a big result. I think there’s probably no chance for us to win the championship.
“I think I’m mentally more in a head space where I want to go for like — if I can go for a win, I’ll try all in, and I think a lot of us are in the same position because Alex is just taking off in the standings.
“Like I say, we’ve been super fast on one lap, and I think actually the race pace has been mega, as well.
“Just haven’t really strung a result together in the last three, four races. Looking forward to just having a solid week, and I feel like we started good here. Normally a pretty good place for us, so yeah, just looking forward to having a smooth weekend.”
Last year, Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi had late race contract while battling for a spot on the podium for which sent Rossi into the tire barriers and a 23rd place result.
Rosenqvist won the battle in scoring a podium.
Now, the duo are teammates under the McLaren banner. On the last street race, they duo found each other once again though.
On the Lap 91 restart in Detroit, Will Power went for the lead going outside Alex Palou for the top spot. Power was too wide and got into Scott Dixon. Rossi meanwhile, benefitted the most in going from fifth to second while Power slid into third and Rosenqvist remaining in fourth.
A caution would quickly occur behind.
On the ensuing restart, Power got back by Rossi for second. Rosenqvist battled back and hip checked Rossi to snag his fifth career podium while Dixon got back by Rossi to finish fourth in the aftermath.
Rossi said he would talk to Rosenqvist privately about that move. Rosenqvist said he’d oblige.
“I mean, we race hard, but I think we also race fair,” Rosenqvist said. “Obviously we like each other. We don’t have any intentions to put each other in the wall.
“But, yeah, it was tight. I think the move wasn’t really high-risk. I was completely alongside him into three. Yeah, just gets tight, man. It’s so close. He squeezed me a little bit on entry, I squeezed him a little bit on exit.
“I think it’s a good problem to have. The Arrow McLaren cars have been up there every race. You’re going to find yourself in a situation where you’re fighting teammates. I think it’s something we’ll discuss internally if we can manage it differently. Obviously there were no team calls on this one, which is cool. They let us battle it out on the track.
“Yeah, I mean, I think he actually hit the wall, but I think he got out in the marbles. I think it’s a good thing he was able to get back in.
“I have to say, I pretty much didn’t have any more room on entry. I was just trying to not go into the wall on apex. After that, I just tried to get out of the corner as quick as I can, give him the room he needed.
“As I say, we’ll talk about it. No biggy. I’m just happy we both finished up front.”
Now, both are hopeful to be battling for a win in Sunday’s race.
“It’s good to be back in my favorite city in the world. I love Toronto, and I love the track there,” said Rosenqvist. “I’ve had some of my best career highlights there, including my first podium finish with the team last year, so I’m excited to return.”
Being third on the last street race in Detroit and third the last time out here and third in practice on Friday and fifth in qualifying on Saturday has Rosenqvist as a solid sleeper.
It was an all out team day for the 6 car.
“It was a hell of a day,” said Rosenqvist. “That was a lot of work, but we ended up P5 in the end, an amazing recovery from a crash in Practice 2. I sent it in a bit too hard into Turn 5 and hit the wall. I didn’t really hit hard but unfortunately damaged how the front wing came into the tub, so we had to build a brand new car ahead of qualifying. Basically the whole team, the No. 5 and No. 7 crew as well, came out, and there was just like a bee hive around the No. 6 SmartStop Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for three hours between practice and qualifying. We did a seat fit 50 minutes before we jumped in, and we were still doing things for the belts and stuff. To end up in the Firestone Fast 6 and P5 after that was just a huge statement to this whole team, having got together and got it done. It was more work than we needed, but we made it through.”
Gavin Ward was pleased with the outcome.
“That was a heck of a thrash for the team after Felix had a bit of an off in practice and unfortunately put a hole in the chassis, so we had all hands on deck,” said the racing director. “We had people jump in from all three crews to get the No. 6 SmartStop Arrow McLaren Chevrolet out there. Felix didn’t disappoint to put it up there in the top five.
Honda Indy Toronto Starting Lineup
Row 1: Christian Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin
Row 2: Pato O’Ward, Marcus Ericsson
Row 3: Felix Rosenqvist, Will Power
Row 4: Scott Dixon, Kyle Kirkwood
Row 5: Romain Grosjean, Marcus Armstrong
Row 6: Josef Newgarden, Rinus VeeKay
Row 7: Helio Castroneves, Colton Herta
Row 8: Alex Palou, Callum Ilott
Row 9: David Malukas, Agustin Canapino R
Row 10: Jack Harvey, Tom Blomqvist R
Row 11: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Devlin DeFrancesco
Row 12: Sting Ray Robb R, Santino Ferrucci
Row 13: Benjamin Pedersen R, Alexander Rossi
Row 14: Graham Rahal
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