Motorsports Racing News & Blog Articles
Genius tyre call sees Newgarden claim Road America pole
Pole position for the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America went the way of Josef Newgarden after a bold tyre call in the Firestone Fast Six paid off in a big way.
Team Penske opted to send both Newgarden and Will Power out on the primary black Firestone tyres for the final laps of qualifying as they bid for pole position and Newgarden managed to hook the lap up superbly to put his car in the best possible place for tomorrow’s race.
He’ll be joined on the front row by Andretti Autosport’s young hotshot Colton Herta who went the other way on tyres, setting his best laps on the alternate red compound but he was two tenths off of Newgarden’s pole time.
Jack Harvey was again the driver to upset the applecart at the front as he and Meyer Shank Racing qualified third at a track where they have always performed admirably so their tails will be up for the race tomorrow.
Power couldn’t match Newgarden’s magic and had to settle for fourth from Chip Ganassi’s Alex Palou and the third Penske car in the Fast Six in Simon Pagenaud.
Just missing out on the chance to go for pole was Romain Grosjean who had the pace all weekend to challenge at the front, but he, and all of those knocked out in the fast 12, still have plenty to race for tomorrow.
Andretti had two drivers narrowly miss the cut with Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi eighth and ninth respectively ahead of Championship points leader Pato O’Ward who said his Arrow McLaren SP car simply weren’t quick enough in tenth.
Sebastien Bourdais and Ed Jones also made the fast 12 but they were unable to really push those in the higher echelons of places and had to settle for 11th and 12th.
The big names knocked out in round one were only just as Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon were both fractions away from advancing, but they will start tomorrow’s race from the seventh row while Detroit winner Marcus Ericsson could only manage row nine.
| Pos. | Name | Team | Lap Time |
| 1 | Josef Newgarden (F6) | Team Penske | 1:46:018 |
| 2 | Colton Herta (F6) | Andretti Autosport | 1:46:261 |
| 3 | Jack Harvey (F6) | Meyer Shank Racing | 1:46:720 |
| 4 | Will Power (F6) | Team Penske | 1:46:823 |
| 5 | Alex Palou (F6) | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:46:863 |
| 6 | Simon Pagenaud (F6) | Team Penske | 1:47:127 |
| 7 | Romain Grosjean (F12) | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:45:901 |
| 8 | Ryan Hunter-Reay (F12) | Andretti Autosport | 1:45:951 |
| 9 | Alexander Rossi (F12) | Andretti Autosport | 1:46:103 |
| 10 | Pato O’Ward (F12) | Arrow McLaren SP | 1:46:106 |
| 11 | Sebastien Bourdais (F12) | A.J Foyt Enterprises | 1:46:222 |
| 12 | Ed Jones (F12) | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:46:227 |
| 13 | Graham Rahal (G2) | RLL | 1:46:277 |
| 14 | Scott Dixon (G1) | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:46:342 |
| 15 | Oliver Askew (G2) | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1:46:290 |
| 16 | Conor Daly (G1) | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1:46:397 |
| 17 | Marcus Ericsson (G2) | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:46:406 |
| 18 | Scott McLaughlin (G1) | Team Penske | 1:46:862 |
| 19 | Takuma Sato (G2) | RLL | 1:46:513 |
| 20 | James Hinchliffe (G1) | Andretti Autosport | 1:47:029 |
| 21 | Max Chilton (G2) | Carlin | 1:46:555 |
| 22 | Kevin Magnussen (G1) | Arrow McLaren SP | 1:47:377 |
| 23 | Dalton Kellett (G2) | A.J Foyt Enterprises | 1:46:978 |
| 24 | Jimmie Johnson (G1) | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:47:788 |
| 25 | Cody Ware (G2) | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:47:732 |
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