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Colton Herta Wins Pole for Honda Indy Toronto

Andretti Autosport seems to have put the drama from Mid-Ohio behind them as Colton Herta takes the pole for the Honda Indy Toronto, the first repeat polesitter this season.

After starting the day at the top of the second practice session, and topping his group in round one of qualifying, Herta swiped the top spot from Josef Newgarden right at the end of the Fast Six session.

“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.”

Alongside him will be three-time winner at Toronto Scott Dixon, who also managed to jump Newgarden at the end of the session but didn’t have enough to surpass Herta. After leading most of the final session, Newgarden’s slide ends in the third position, benefitted by a new engine changed after second practice.

Alexander Rossi will start fourth, showing a lot of pace so far this weekend, while rookie David Malukas dazzled once again in qualifying, with a fifth place start marking his second trip to the Fast Six this year. Rounding out the session was Scott McLaughlin, who will start sixth.

Some of the top points contenders find themselves buried in the field, including the likes of Alex Palou, Will Power, and more.

In the first round of qualifying, Pato O’Ward simply did not have the pace to advance to the next round, finishing eighth in his group. He will start fifteenth.

Group two proved to be even more chaotic, as Devlin DeFrancesco locked up going into turn three and into the tyre barrier. At the same time, Palou’s engine gave out, coming to a halt on the backstretch. The red flag was thrown with four and a half minutes left, but officially was thrown for Palou, denying him the chance to advance to the Fast Twelve, starting twenty-second.

That wasn’t the last red flag of the session, however, as Kyle Kirkwood made contact with the wall at the very end of the session and tried to hold onto the car and finish the lap, but spun coming across the timing line. The timing of this red flag crushed Power’s run, who was three tenths of a second up on the time to advance. He will start sixteenth.

Since the earlier penalty wasn’t applied to DeFrancesco, the rookie was able to advance to his first Fast Twelve. Unfortunately in that session, he was penalized for impeding on Herta, and will start twelfth, which is still a career-best for him.

Two more rookies joined Malukas in the top ten, Callum Ilott and Christian Lundgaard, who will start seventh and tenth respectively. Championship leader Marcus Ericsson will start the race in ninth.

With the grid now set, we look ahead to the Honda Indy Toronto, which takes place Sunday, 17 July at 1200 PST / 1500 EST / 1900 GMT.

Honda Indy Toronto – Starting Order

RANKCAR NO.DRIVERNATTEAMTIME
126Colton HertaUSAAndretti Autosport59.2698
29Scott DixonNZLChip Ganassi Racing59.3592
32Josef NewgardenUSATeam Penske59.5257
427Alexander RossiUSAAndretti Autosport59.5544
518David Malukas (R)USADale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports59.614
63Scott McLaughlinNZLTeam Penske59.9558
777Callum Ilott (R)GBRJuncos Hollinger Racing59.6352
87Felix RosenqvistSWEArrow McLaren SP59.663
98Marcus EricssonSWEChip Ganassi Racing59.8527
1030Christian Lundgaard (R)DENRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing59.9151
1128Romain GrosjeanFRAAndretti Autosport1:00.0819
1229Devlin DeFrancescoCANAndretti Steinbrenner Autosport1:14.8882
1345Jack HarveyGBRRahal Letterman Lanigan Racing1:00.0212
1415Graham RahalUSARahal Letterman Lanigan Racing1:00.6805
155Patricio O’WardMEXArrow McLaren SP1:00.1193
1612Will PowerAUSTeam Penske1:00.7974
1706Helio CastronevesBRAMeyer Shank Racing1:00.2712
1860Simon PagenaudFRAMeyer Shank Racing1:00.7974
1951Takuma SatoJPNDale Coyne Racing1:00.5324
2021Rinus VeeKayNEDEd Carpenter Racing1:01.0870
2148Jimmie JohnsonUSAChip Ganassi Racing1:00.9817
2210Alex PalouESPChip Ganassi Racing1:03.0514
234Dalton KellettCANA.J. Foyt EnterprisesNO TIME
2414Kyle Kirkwood (R)USAA.J. Foyt Enterprises1:03.2511
2520Conor DalyUSAEd Carpenter Racing1:05.2593
(R) – Rookie

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