Graham Rahal is back on the front row for an IndyCar race for the first time in four years.
The son of 1986 Indy 500 winner and team owner Bobby Rahal was edged for the pole position at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the closing seconds Saturday by Colton Herta who posted a lap of 1 minute, 6.3096 seconds to qualify first for the second consecutive NTT IndyCar Series race.
Rahal (1:06.3528) was followed by Kyle Kirkwood, points leader Alex Palou, Christian Lundgaard and Scott Dixon as Hondas swept the Fast Six final round of qualifying.
QUALIFYING RESULTS: Click here for Honda Indy 200 qualifying speeds | Round 1, Group 1 | Round 1, Group 2 | Round 2 l Round 3
ALTERNATE OR PRIMARY: Tire designations for the 27-car grid
INDYCAR AT MID-OHIO: Details for watching Sunday’s race
“It’s a great time to get up front and running well,” said Rahal, whose No. 15 failed to qualify for the Indy 500 as he weighed whether to stay with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. “We’ve got a lot of laps to keep it there.“I’m so proud of everybody at RLL, the 15 car of course. Everybody has done an amazing job, keeping their heads down amidst a tough season.”
With teammate Lundgaard starting fifth, it was a banner day for RLL but even better for Andretti Autosport, which qualified first and third with Herta and Kirkwood.
“He just drove super well and definitely put in a really good lap there,” Kirkwood said of Herta, who is searching for his first win since the road course at Indianapolis last year. “You couldn’t ask for better starting positions, to be honest. A front row lockout is great, but one and three is great here, being on the inside for Turn 1.”
Herta won from the pole at Mid-Ohio when it hosted a doubleheader in 2020.
Three Chevrolet stars failed to advance from the first round of qualifying, including Pato O’Ward (who was fast in practice but brought out a red flag by spinning through the grass in qualifying, relegating him to 25th.
“It was all on me on that one,” O’Ward said. “I lost the rear and (the car) got to an angle where I couldn’t save it, and then I stalled it as soon as I got in the grass. It frickin’ (stinks).”
Alexander Rossi, O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren teammate, and Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden also failed to make the second round.
The highest qualifying Chevrolet drivers were Newgarden’s teammates Will Power and Scott McLaughlin.
“I had some of my best laps of the weekend. We just missed,” McLaughlin said. “It’s IndyCar. It’s so tight. We’ll work. We can win from eighth. Me and Will are the first couple of Chevys and we’ll go from there.”
Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine and speed):
ROW 1
1. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 1 minute, 6.3096 seconds (122.589 mph)
2. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 1:06.3528 (122.509)
ROW 2
3. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 1:06.3693 (122.478)
4. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 1:06.4166 (122.391)
ROW 3
5. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 1:06.6277 (122.003)
6. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 1:06.9281 (121.456)
ROW 4
7. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 1:06.1121 (122.955)
8. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 1:06.1926 (122.805)
ROW 5
9. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 1:06.2289 (122.738)
10. (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 1:06.2455 (122.707)
ROW 6
11. (30) Jack Harvey, Honda, 1:06.7309 (121.815)
12. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 1:06.7596 (121.762)
ROW 7
13. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 1:06.6010 (122.052)
14. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 1:06.1870 (122.816)
ROW 8
15. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 1:06.6307 (121.998)
16. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 1:06.2891 (122.626)
ROW 9
17. (20) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 1:07.0095 (121.308)
18. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 1:06.2915 (122.622)
ROW 10
19. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 1:07.0503 (121.234)
20. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1:06.3487 (122.516)
ROW 11
21. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 1:07.0816 (121.178)
22. (51) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 1:06.5157 (122.209)
ROW 12
23. (55) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 1:07.3960 (120.612)
24. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 1:06.5834 (122.084)
ROW 13
25. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 1:11.3655 (113.904)
26. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 1:07.2807 (120.819)
ROW 14
27. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, No Time (No Speed)