IndyCar: Herta Takes Pole in Qualifying at Honda Indy Toronto

Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta turned a lap of 59.2698s to beat Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon’s time of 59.2698s for the pole for the Honda Indy Toronto.

Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden turned a lap of 59.5257s to take the 3rd spot on the grid.

Alexander Rossi, David Malukas, and Scott McLaughlin rounded out the lineup in the Firestone Fast Six session.

 

Herta on Pole for Honda Indy Toronto Penske Entertainment by Chris Owens

Herta became the first driver to win more than one pole position in the 2022 season.  The young  American has now earned his ninth career pole.

Herta commented on his fast run today.  “Yeah, couldn’t have been much better.  We had a great race car in the morning time. Kind of did a little bit to it to adjust it. Ended up being  very fast this afternoon.”

“I think overall on the new reds we lacked a little bit of pace. We were fourth, fifth, and sixth. On the used reds, the car came alive which is intriguing and interesting for tomorrow. We’ll have to wait and see.”

“I’m really happy with the team’s performance today.”

 

Scott Dixon – Honda Indy Toronto        Penske Entertainment – by Chris Owens

Scott Dixon is no stranger to the podium in Toronto, having three wins out of five podium finishes.  If he wins the race tomorrow, the New Zealander will tie Mario Andretti for the all-time wins with 52 in IndyCar.

Dixon commented on his “Yeah, it’s been a good weekend for us. I think all the cars rolled off really well. It was just trying to keep up with the track was a little bit of it. Q3 was good. Probably over-attacked on the last lap there, lost quite a bit of time in six. There are always things you can improve.”

“Congrats to Colton, it was a great lap. Looking forward to starting close up to the front and hopefully have a clean day.”

 

Malukas in Toronto                             Photo by Lucille Dust for Autoracing1.com

David Malukas, the Dale Coyne Racing with HMD driver, was impressed with his qualifying run.  The 20-year-old American admitted to not using his red tires correctly and chalks that up to inexperience.  But he is learning each race and that shows by his finishes.

Qualifying Results

1. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 59.2698 (108.480)
2. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 59.3592 (108.317)
3. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 59.5257 (108.014)
4. (27) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 59.5544 (107.962)
5. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 59.6140 (107.854)
6. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 59.9558 (107.239)
7. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 59.6352 (107.816)
8. (7) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 59.6630 (107.765)
9. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 59.8527 (107.424)
10. (30) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 59.9151 (107.312)
11. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 01:00.0819 (107.014)
12. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 01:14.8882 (85.856)
13. (45) Jack Harvey, Honda, 01:00.0212 (107.122)
14. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:00.6805 (105.958)
15. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 01:00.1193 (106.947)
16. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:00.7974 (105.755)
17. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 01:00.2712 (106.678)
18. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 01:00.7974 (105.755)
19. (51) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:00.5324 (106.217)
20. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 01:01.0870 (105.253)
21. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 01:00.9817 (105.435)
22. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 01:03.0514 (101.974)
23. (4) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, No Time (No Speed)
24. (14) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 01:03.2511 (101.652)
25. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 01:05.2593 (98.524)