IndyCar: Rahal wins pole in Portland
Rahal Letterman Lanigan veteran Graham Rahal turned a lap of 58.3195s to win pole position for the Bitnile.com GP of Portland IndyCar race.
It was the 2nd straight road course pole position for Rahal after a long dry spell.
Rahal beat the #3 Penske Chevy of Scott McLaughlin by just 0.0330s.
“Yesterday, we really struggled on the red tires,” Rahal said. “This morning we saved a set of blacks (primary tires) compared to everyone else, and it just worked out to be able to go to the new blacks (in qualifying). Everybody has pushed real hard to get our team back to this point, and it’s nice to have two poles here at the end of the year.”
This was the fifth career pole of Rahal’s INDYCAR SERIES career. His first two came in 2009, on the streets of St. Petersburg and at Kansas Speedway. Rahal was 18th of 27 drivers in practice Friday and improved to fourth in practice Saturday morning, avoiding running on a set of primary tires that ended up being his secret weapon in the Firestone Fast Six.
“We have a great car,” McLaughlin said. “It was the same car we ran last year, so hopefully we’ll be OK.”
Colton Herta was third in the #27 Andretti Autosport Honda, 0.138s behind.
“That’s one set of Primaries that he’s taken off the table for the race tomorrow, too,” Herta said of Rahal’s decision to use primary tires in the Firestone Fast Six. “It’s a cat-and-mouse game, and you have to be willing to give up a little bit, strategy-wise, to get that pole.
“We thought the reds were going to be better. I think for us, (the alternate tire) probably was the best. Our Gainbridge car has come a long way this weekend.”
Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, 2nd and 1st in the point standings respectively, were 4th and 5th.
Pat O’Ward came in 6th in the #5 Arrow McLaren Chevy.
Qualifying Results
|
Rank |
Car |
Driver Name |
Engine |
Time |
Speed |
Session |
|
1 |
15 |
Rahal, Graham |
Honda |
58.3195 |
121.236 |
Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six |
|
2 |
3 |
McLaughlin, Scott |
Chevy |
58.3525 |
121.167 |
Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six |
|
3 |
26 |
Herta, Colton |
Honda |
58.4576 |
120.949 |
Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six |
|
4 |
9 |
Dixon, Scott |
Honda |
58.5803 |
120.696 |
Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six |
|
5 |
10 |
Palou, Alex |
Honda |
58.6492 |
120.554 |
Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six |
|
6 |
5 |
O’Ward, Pato |
Chevy |
58.6737 |
120.504 |
Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six |
|
7 |
12 |
Power, Will |
Chevy |
58.3779 |
121.114 |
Elimination Round 2 / Top 12 |
|
8 |
77 |
Ilott, Callum |
Chevy |
58.4973 |
120.867 |
Elimination Round 2 / Top 12 |
|
9 |
7 |
Rossi, Alexander |
Chevy |
58.5023 |
120.857 |
Elimination Round 2 / Top 12 |
|
10 |
8 |
Ericsson, Marcus |
Honda |
58.5479 |
120.763 |
Elimination Round 2 / Top 12 |
|
11 |
6 |
Rosenqvist, Felix |
Chevy |
59.3053 |
119.220 |
Elimination Round 2 / Top 12 |
|
12 |
2 |
Newgarden, Josef |
Chevy |
No Time |
No Speed |
Elimination Round 2 / Top 12 |
|
13 |
21 |
VeeKay, Rinus |
Chevy |
58.3240 |
121.226 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 1 |
|
14 |
11 |
Armstrong, Marcus (R) |
Honda |
58.6652 |
120.521 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 2 |
|
15 |
28 |
Grosjean, Romain |
Honda |
58.3522 |
121.168 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 1 |
|
16 |
27 |
Kirkwood, Kyle |
Honda |
58.6835 |
120.484 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 2 |
|
17 |
45 |
Lundgaard, Christian |
Honda |
58.3678 |
121.135 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 1 |
|
18 |
30 |
Vips, Juri (R) |
Honda |
58.7454 |
120.357 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 2 |
|
19 |
20 |
Hunter-Reay, Ryan |
Chevy |
58.6529 |
120.546 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 1 |
|
20 |
78 |
Canapino, Agustin (R) |
Chevy |
58.7753 |
120.295 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 2 |
|
21 |
29 |
DeFrancesco, Devlin |
Honda |
58.6748 |
120.501 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 1 |
|
22 |
06 |
Castroneves, Helio |
Honda |
58.8006 |
120.244 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 2 |
|
23 |
14 |
Ferrucci, Santino |
Chevy |
59.0633 |
119.709 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 1 |
|
24 |
18 |
Malukas, David |
Honda |
58.9016 |
120.037 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 2 |
|
25 |
51 |
Robb, Sting Ray (R) |
Honda |
59.2642 |
119.303 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 1 |
|
26 |
55 |
Pedersen, Benjamin (R) |
Chevy |
59.2175 |
119.397 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 2 |
|
27 |
60 |
Blomqvist, Tom (R) |
Honda |
59.4364 |
118.957 |
Elimination Round 1 / Group 2 |
|
(R) Rookie |