In the final seconds, Colton Herta surged ahead and took pole position for the Toronto Indy GP. Scott Dixon starts second, followed by Josef Newgarden. Helio Castroneves failed to pass Q1
American Colton Herta will start from the pole-position of the Toronto GP of IndyCar Series. In the qualifying session held on Saturday afternoon (16), the Andretti driver set a time of 59s269 to confirm the favoritism seen in free practice and lead the pack in the race that takes place on Sunday.
Six-time champion Scott Dixon will start second with Ganassi, after posting a time just 0.089second slower than Herta's. Penske's Josef Newgarden will start third, followed by Herta's Andretti teammate Alexander Rossi in fourth. David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin form the third row.
Surprise Juncos driver Callum Ilott will start seventh, alongside McLaren's Felix Rosenqvist. Championship leader Marcus Ericsson is ninth with Ganassi, while RLL's Christian Lundgaard completes the top-10.
Penske's Will Power, second in the standings, was surprised by a red flag at the wrong time and was eliminated in Q1. The Australian will have to start from 16th place, behind McLaren's Pato O'Ward.
Brazilian Helio Castroneves was eliminated in Q1. The Meyer Shank driver will start from 17th place in Sunday's race. Reigning champion Álex Palou will start from the back of the grid in his first race for Ganassi after the imbroglio with McLaren. The Spaniard suffered an engine problem, and will start from 22nd.
The Toronto GP takes place this Sunday (17th) at Exhibition Place. The start is scheduled for 4 pm (Brasília). The race will be fully covered by GRANDE PRÊMIO, and broadcast in Brazil by TV Cultura on free-to-air channels, ESPN4 on pay TV, and Star+ on streaming.
Find out how the Indy standings went in Toronto:
Q1: O'Ward, Castroneves, Power and Palou eliminated
Group 1: Marcus Ericsson, Scott McLaughlin, Scott Dixon, David Malukas, Alexander Rossi, Pato O'Ward, Takuma Sato, Jack Harvey, Callum Ilott, Helio Castroneves, Jimmie Johnson, Dalton Kellett
The green flag for Group 1 was raised at 3:00 pm (EST time) for 10 minutes of running time. The first stint, almost all done on hard tires by the drivers, had Andretti's Alexander Rossi in the lead with a time of 1min00s356. Besides him, McLaughlin, Malukas, Ilott, O'Ward and Dixon were all setting times that qualified them for the next segment. Still on hard tires, McLaughlin clocked 1min00s052, taking first place.
When it was time on soft tires, the top spot was in Ericsson's hands with 59s687. Dixon, Rossi, Ilott, Malukas, and McLaughlin also qualified. Pato O'Ward surprised and was eliminated.
Group 2: Colton Herta, Will Power, Christian Lundgaard, Graham Rahal, Felix Rosenqvist, Simon Pagenaud, Rinus VeeKay, Conor Daly, Devlin DeFrancesco, Romain Grosjean, Kyle Kirkwood, Álex Palou, Josef Newgarden
The first half of group 2 ended with Devlin DeFrancesco at the top with 1min00s154, using soft tires. Grosjean, Rosenqvist, Lundgaard, Herta and Newgarden were the runners-up. The red flag came out after DeFrancesco hit the tire barrier at turn 3. Also in trouble was Ganassi's Alex Palou, who suffered mechanical problems.
As the stopwatch didn't stop, the race direction announced that each driver would only have one lap at the end of the group. The fastest time went to Colton Herta, in 1min00s068. Kyle Kirkwood crashed and caused another red flag. Devlin DeFrancesco, Josef Newgarden, Romain Grosjean, Felix Rosenqvist, and Christian Lundgaard moved up.
Fast 12: Ericsson and Grosjean out
In the first stint, on hard tires, who surprised and placed himself at the top of the grid was Juncos' Callum Ilott, with 1min00s068. Newgarden, Rossi, Herta, Malukas, and Rosenqvist were the qualifiers at that point.
At the time of the soft tires, Alexander Rossi jumped into the lead with 59s370. Newgarden, Malukas, Dixon, Herta, and McLaughlin were all in pole position.
Fast 6: Herta is pole
The race for pole position started with all drivers running on soft tires. At the first overall attempt, Rossi did better, with a 59s609. In the second stint on red tires, Newgarden came up with 59s525 to take the lead. Just as the Penske driver was getting ready to celebrate, Herta came up with 59s269 and knocked the two-time champion off pole. Josef was also overtaken by Scott Dixon.
Indy 2022, Toronto GP, Qualifying: