Colton Herta caused an upset during qualifying for the Detroit GP, taking a pole position as other big names struggled.
Approaching qualifying, both practice sessions yielded mixed results in terms of the competitive order. While Kyle Kirkwood topped for the first session at the Detroit GP, he could only managed P3 in the second session.
Callum Illot, showed strong pace in fourth, as Prema looked to move on from a bittersweet Indy 500. Runaway championship leader Alex Palou languished down in 12th, seemingly struggling for pace prior to qualifying at the Detroit GP.
The narrow streets and bumpy roads of Detroit require a different skillset to the oval of Indianapolis. Qualifying is critical, as although overtaking is possible, the unique nature of the circuit creates challenges.
Qualifying Group 1
Group 1 took to the circuit to progress to the Fast 12 in the first phase of qualifying. Scott McLaughlin, Ilott, Rosenqvist, Lungaard, Ericsson, Palou, DeFrancesco, Veekay, Simpson, Armstrong and Daly all battled for for the six spots available.
After the first runs, Palou, led the group, with the order behind the Spaniard jumping and changing every few seconds.
As the clock ticked down Ericsson and McLaughlin were the big names outside the top six places, and needed find time.
Lundgaard replaced Palou at the top of the times with three minutes to go, both looked comfortable to progress.
Ericsson and Power jumped to the top of the times, as those at the bottom of the table began to find time. Power stayed at the top, with Plalou, Lundgaard, McLaughlin, Armstrong and Veekay all progressing. Ericsson’s hopes faded, as he ended the session in seventh.
Qualifying Group 2
The second half of the field were next to take to the track for qualifying at the Detroit GP to take their shot at securing pole position glory on the streets.
Out laps were slow to prepare the tyres for the first runs. When up to temperature and in the correct window, tyres could prove crucial. Four drivers were on the hard tyres, the remainder on the softs.
Christian Rasmussen led the field after the first runs, but new leaders took their place on the leaderboard every few seconds as the track ramped up.
Colton Herta and Josef Newgarden were the big names at risk. They struggled for grip and remained agonisingly close to the top six. But it was Nolan Siegel in the most trouble, as his Arrow McLaren developed an engine problem.
As the session reached its conclusion, Herta and Newgarden remained at risk. David Malukas moved to the top with just 44 seconds left. Newgarden hit the wall on his final lap, leaving him down in tenth.
Herta and Graham Rahal moved into the top two places, with Louis Foster moving to fifth, with Dixon taking the final spot in the Fast 12.
Fast 12
The race was now on to secure a place in the Fast 6 at the Detroit GP. With just 10 minutes on the clock, drivers had little room for error. Lundgaard demonstrated this by spinning on his first lap out of the pits.
All drivers out of the pits were on used soft tyres. Again, Rasmussen topped the time after the first runs, with McLaughlin in second. Palou then took his customary place at the top of the times.
The track continued to evolve, as all cars improved on their second laps, including Herta who deposed Palou.
Kirkwood came perilously close to crashing into the wall, but was able to continue. Power, McLaughlin and Dixon all needed to dig deep on their second runs to move into the top six places. With just three minutes remaining, drivers set off on new rubber having stopped for fresh tyres.
The order changed every few seconds once again, but it was Colton Herta who jumped to the top of the times, with Kirkwood, Malukas, Lundgaard, Palou and Rahal progressing. McLaughlin failed to progress, as another Team Penske car failed to move to Fast Six.
Fast Six
Three drivers had new sets of soft tyres available, while the remaining three would be hindered by running used.
As the session got underway, the six cars spread out on the streets to give themselves the best chance of victory at the Detroit GP.
Rahal jumped to the top of the times after the first runs, followed by Palou, Malukas, Herta, Kirkwood and Lundgaard.
With just three minutes to go, the lap times began to quickly tumble, drovers finding over two seconds, compared to the previous runs.
Malukas was the first to demonstrate the track evolution, moving clear of Rahal. The other drivers warmed up their tyres for one last effort to secure pole position.
Herta moved to P1 on his final run, with Malukas in second, Kirkwood third, Lundgaard fourth, Rahal 5th and Palou down in sixth.
Provisional Classification
- Colton Herta
- David Malukas
- Kyle Kirkwood
- Christian Lundgaard
- Graham Rahal
- Alex Palou
- Rinus Veekay
- Scott McLaughlin
- Will Power
- Scott Dixon
- Marcus Armstrong
- Christian Rasmussen
- Marcus Ericsson
- Louis Foster
- Felix Rosenqvist
- Alexander Rossi
- Callum Illott
- Pato O’Ward
- Kyffin Simpson
- Jacob Abel
- Santino Ferucci
- Robert Schwartzman
- Devlin DeFrancesco
- Josef Newgarden
- Conor Daly
- Sting Ray Robb
- Nolan Siegel
