Will Power took his fifth pole position of the year while his championship contending Team Penske-Chevrolet teammate Josef Newgarden could manage only eighth – but ahead of title favorite Scott Dixon.
Power had just enough grip left in his Firestone reds to nail a 61.0369sec lap, and edge Andretti Autosport duo Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta by 0.13 and 0.14sec respectively. It was the 62nd pole of Power’s Indy car racing career and his ninth in 11 years at the 1.8-mile street and runway course at St. Petersburg, FL.
Herta was left disappointed by his run, believing the extra set of fresh reds accrued in Q1 failed to turn on in time for him to outperform Power.
James Hinchcliffe emphasized Andretti Autosport’s return to form with an excellent fourth, ahead of semi-sister car, the Meyer Shank Racing machine of Jack Harvey.
Starting alongside him will be the top Arrow McLaren SP entry of Pato O’Ward.
In Q2, Power set top time on primaries, a 60.8237sec just ahead of O’Ward and Herta. On alternates, Power lowered this to 60.3324, ahead of Herta and O’Ward.
Championship contenders Newgarden and Dixon fell in Q2, Newgarden 0.5352sec off Power’s pace, and Dixon 0.6959 behind. The result leaves Newgarden starting eighth alongside AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet’s Sebastien Bourdais, while Rookie of the Year Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing and the second Arrow McLaren SP of Oliver Askew – back after missing the Harvest GP due to concussion will fill out the fifth row.
Simon Pagenaud was up with teammate Newgarden in terms of pace, but spun the #22 Penske-Chevy heading into the final turn, and lost his two best laps, dropping him to 12th alongside Dixon.
In Q1 Group 2, Herta looked so strong on blacks, setting a 60.6614sec lap – 0.4sec clear of Power, that when they ducked into the pits to grab a set of alternate tires, Herta did not emerge again. Impressively, his fastest time on primaries withstood alternate-tired runs from VeeKay, Power, and Felix Rosenqvist.
However, Rosenqvist – nursing a fracture in his right hand – lost his two best laps for blocking Alex Palou’s Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh, which Ganassi believed was only on an out lap. Thus Rosenqvist was bumped out of qualifying and initially Palou was put in.
That should have benefited Oliver Askew who missed the cut only by 0.0773sec but he and VeeKay initially also lost their best times for not slowing sufficiently for a yellow flag caused by Max Chilton sliding into the Turn 10 run-off. Thus Palou and Conor Daly in the second ECR-Chevy were promoted into Q2…. But only briefly. A timing and scoring glitch saw the wrong laps deleted, and suddenly Askew and VeeKay were back in, while Palou and Daly were consigned to the back half of the grid. This whole confusion took more than 20mins to sort out.
In Q1 Group 1 losses included the two Rahal Letterman Lanigan cars, Takuma Sato clipping an inside wall but surviving a 130mph off course excursion.
Penske’s IndyCar debutant, three-time Supercars champion McLaughlin got within one second of top time, but ended up 12th and last in the group, admitting he’d made mistakes on his alternate-tired run.
Another surprise exclusion was Ryan Hunter-Reay who had looked strong in morning practice.
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Will Power |  Team Penske | 5 | 1’01.036 | 106.165 | ||
| 2 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 4 | 1’01.173 | 0.136 | 0.136 | 105.929 |
| 3 | Colton Herta | Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport | 3 | 1’01.181 | 0.144 | 0.008 | 105.914 |
| 4 |  James Hinchcliffe | Andretti Autosport | 4 | 1’01.362 | 0.325 | 0.181 | 105.602 |
| 5 |  Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | 5 | 1’01.367 | 0.330 | 0.004 | 105.593 |
| 6 |  Patricio O’Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | 4 | 1’01.772 | 0.735 | 0.405 | 104.901 |
| View full results |
Q2
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Power | Team Penske | 8 | 1’00.332 | 107.405 | ||
| 2 | Colton Herta | Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport | 7 | 1’00.368 | 0.036 | 0.036 | 107.340 |
| 3 | Patricio O’Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | 7 | 1’00.618 | 0.285 | 0.249 | 106.899 |
| 4 | Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | 7 | 1’00.626 | 0.294 | 0.008 | 106.884 |
| 5 | James Hinchcliffe | Andretti Autosport | 7 | 1’00.735 | 0.403 | 0.109 | 106.692 |
| 6 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 7 | 1’00.762 | 0.430 | 0.027 | 106.644 |
| 7 |  Sébastien Bourdais | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 8 | 1’00.810 | 0.477 | 0.047 | 106.561 |
| 8 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 8 | 1’00.867 | 0.535 | 0.057 | 106.461 |
| 9 |  Rinus van Kalmthout | Ed Carpenter Racing | 8 | 1’00.883 | 0.551 | 0.016 | 106.432 |
| 10 | Oliver Askew | Arrow McLaren SP | 7 | 1’00.977 | 0.644 | 0.093 | 106.269 |
| 11 |  Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 8 | 1’01.028 | 0.695 | 0.051 | 106.180 |
| 12 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | 8 | 1’01.229 | 0.897 | 0.201 | 105.831 |
| View full results |
Q1 Group 2
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Colton Herta | Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport | 5 | 1’00.661 | 106.822 | ||
| 2 | Rinus van Kalmthout | Ed Carpenter Racing | 8 | 1’00.772 | 0.110 | 0.110 | 106.628 |
| 3 | Will Power | Team Penske | 8 | 1’00.773 | 0.111 | 0.000 | 106.626 |
| 4 | Sébastien Bourdais | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 8 | 1’00.880 | 0.219 | 0.107 | 106.438 |
| 5 | Patricio O’Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | 7 | 1’00.941 | 0.279 | 0.060 | 106.332 |
| 6 | Oliver Askew | Arrow McLaren SP | 7 | 1’01.018 | 0.357 | 0.077 | 106.197 |
| 7 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | 8 | 1’01.160 | 0.499 | 0.142 | 105.950 |
| 8 |  Alex Palou | Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh | 8 | 1’01.163 | 0.501 | 0.002 | 105.946 |
| 9 | Santino Ferrucci | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan | 8 | 1’01.179 | 0.518 | 0.016 | 105.917 |
| 10 | Charlie Kimball | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 7 | 1’01.242 | 0.581 | 0.062 | 105.809 |
| 11 |  Felix Rosenqvist | Chip Ganassi Racing | 8 | 1’01.522 | 0.861 | 0.279 | 105.327 |
| 12 | Max Chilton | Carlin | 5 | 1’21.790 | 21.129 | 20.268 | 79.226 |
| View full results |
Q1 Group 1
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | James Hinchcliffe | Andretti Autosport | 7 | 1’00.652 | 106.838 | ||
| 2 | Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | 7 | 1’00.731 | 0.078 | 0.078 | 106.700 |
| 3 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 8 | 1’00.743 | 0.090 | 0.011 | 106.679 |
| 4 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 8 | 1’00.872 | 0.219 | 0.129 | 106.452 |
| 5 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | 8 | 1’00.874 | 0.222 | 0.002 | 106.448 |
| 6 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 7 | 1’00.886 | 0.234 | 0.011 | 106.427 |
| 7 |  Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 7 | 1’00.942 | 0.289 | 0.055 | 106.330 |
| 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 8 | 1’00.961 | 0.309 | 0.019 | 106.296 |
| 9 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 8 | 1’01.145 | 0.493 | 0.183 | 105.976 |
| 10 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | 7 | 1’01.173 | 0.520 | 0.027 | 105.929 |
| 11 | Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | 7 | 1’01.640 | 0.988 | 0.467 | 105.125 |
| 12 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Herta Autosport with Marco & Curb-Agajani | 7 | 1’01.683 | 1.030 | 0.042 | 105.053 |
| View full results |
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