Colton Herta scored the pole in qualifying for the NTT IndyCar Series on the streets of Toronto on Saturday. Photo: Penske Entertainment/Chris Jones
Colton Herta became the first two-time pole winner this season in the NTT IndyCar Series, earning the NTT P1 Award for the Honda Indy Toronto on Saturday.
Herta’s top time was 59.2698 seconds on his last flying lap in the No. 26 Honda, as he added this pole to his No. 1 spot at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach in April.
The first nine races of this season featured a different pole winner, and Herta was happy to spoil a chance for the series to tie a record of 10 different pole winners
“That was an intense session,” Herta said. “We hadn’t really found that time until right at the end. I was really happy with that lap. It all kind of came together. The car was working brilliantly. You don’t see that usually, guys going faster on the used reds (alternate Firestone tires) instead of the new. Something to think about for tomorrow, but I’m happy with my Gainbridge Honda.”
Scott Dixon will join Herta – who also led the morning practice – on the front row after a best qualifying lap of 59.3592. It was the best non-oval qualifying performance this season for Dixon, whose previous best road/street qualifying effort was fifth at the last race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Josef Newgarden, who leads the series this season with three wins, qualified third at 59.5257. He will share Row 2 with Alexander Rossi, who qualified fourth at 59.5544.
David Malukas was the top-qualifying rookie with a career-best starting spot of fifth after a lap of 59.6140. Scott McLaughlin rounded out the Firestone Fast Six at 59.9558.
Qualifying provided a mixed bag of results for contenders for the Astor Challenge Cup as series champion on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile temporary circuit on the streets of Exhibition Place in Canada’s largest city.
Points leader Marcus Ericsson qualified ninth. His closest pursuer, Will Power, endured a third consecutive event with a frustrating qualifying result. He will start 16th after his final hot lap in the first qualifying session was halted when Kyle Kirkwood crashed in turn 8, triggering a red flag and ending the group’s session.
Power has qualified 15th or lower in the last three road course races on the schedule, yet has rallied to finish first and third in two of them, at Belle Isle and Mid-Ohio, respectively.
“I should know that you must stay in the top six every time because this can happen,” Power said of losing his lap to Kirkwood’s incident. “I had a really fast car again. It is crazy. That’s three races in a row we’ve been like P2 in practice before qualifying and then between 15th and 19th. Frustrating, man. Frustrating. I got to turn 6 and was up four-tenths. That would have got us through.”
Newgarden, third in points, is in good shape to possibly gain ground on Ericsson and Power with the third starting spot Sunday.
But the next two drivers in the standings, fourth-place Alex Palou and fifth-place Pato O’Ward, have a lot of work to do.
Reigning series champion Palou slowed on track and stopped in his qualifying group in the first session and will start 22nd in the 25-car field. O’Ward clipped the wall during his first group, didn’t advance and will start 15th.
There was bright spot for the enthusiastic crowd of Canadian fans, back in droves under sunny skies after this event was put on hold in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Toronto area native and series rookie Devlin DeFrancesco qualified a career-best 12th.
The 85-lap race is scheduled for Sunday.
NTT IndyCar Series
Streets of Toronto – Toronto, Canada
Honda Indy Toronto – July 16, 2022
Saturday’s Qualifying Results
1. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 59.2698 (108.480)
2. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 59.3592 (108.317)
3. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 59.5257 (108.014)
4. (27) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 59.5544 (107.962)
5. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 59.6140 (107.854)
6. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 59.9558 (107.239)
7. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 59.6352 (107.816)
8. (7) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 59.6630 (107.765)
9. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 59.8527 (107.424)
10. (30) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 59.9151 (107.312)
11. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 01:00.0819 (107.014)
12. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 01:14.8882 (85.856)
13. (45) Jack Harvey, Honda, 01:00.0212 (107.122)
14. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:00.6805 (105.958)
15. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 01:00.1193 (106.947)
16. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:00.7974 (105.755)
17. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 01:00.2712 (106.678)
18. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 01:00.7974 (105.755)
19. (51) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:00.5324 (106.217)
20. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 01:01.0870 (105.253)
21. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 01:00.9817 (105.435)
22. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 01:03.0514 (101.974)
23. (4) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, No Time (No Speed)
24. (14) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 01:03.2511 (101.652)
25. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 01:05.2593 (98.524)
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