IndyCar: Rossi beats Newgarden to win pole at Road America

Alexander Rossi became the 8th different pole sitter of the 2022 NTT IndyCar season and his first in three years, with a time of 1m44.8656s on hard Firestone tires.

Andretti Honda driver Rossi beat Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden by just 0.07s but Newgarden was on the softer, stickier Firestone tires.  What time would Rossi have put up on the soft tires?

Alex Palou was 3rd for Ganassi Racing ahead of his teammate Marcus Ericsson.

Rossi’s teammate Colton Herta rounded out the top-5 in his Andretti Honda.

Polesitter Alexander Rossi is met by team owner Michael Andretti and his engineer Jeremy Milless

Four of the drivers in the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session decided to use the Firestone primary “black” tires, which are more durable but have less grip than the alternate “red” tires. Josef Newgarden used the same strategy last year to win the pole on this 14-turn, 4.048-mile circuit.

Polesitter Alexander Rossi

 

Rossi commented on winning the pole on the black primary tires.  “I was obviously happy with my car yesterday. I think fortunately qualifying,  the primary tire was the preferred tire because I think our balance is a bit better on that tire.”

“So we were trying to bring it a little bit more into the window on the alternates. I don’t think we quite got there so we definitely have some work to do from that standpoint to make sure we still have pace in the race tomorrow on the alternate.”

” I just think for me, our balance on the primary tires is just a lot better than on the alternates, which ultimately is why we’re able to kind of do that.  It was faster than my best lap that I did on the red tire. There’s a little bit of that that’s going on. We certainly need to focus on that in this warmup to try to figure out. You got to be good on both tires obviously. ”

 

Josef Newgarden – Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America – By_ James Black

Josef Newgarden commented regarding his qualifying effort.   “It was unbelievable. I didn’t even realize Rossi was on blacks. I looked like an idiot talking to Greg from Team Chevy. I was like, Clearly, clearly it was better to go use reds, we knew that. He didn’t say anything to me (smiling).”

“Kevin Lee from NBC  told me when he interviewed me. Greg , (from Team Chevy) was like, I didn’t want to correct you.  Wow, I feel, like, stupid.”

“We were just a little short. I think Rossi’s lap is definitely an outlier. Must have been a mega lap. It looks like it. Kudos to those guys.”

“I was pretty happy with my lap. It wasn’t like it was a bad lap. It just wasn’t enough. Wish we were one spot better, but we all day to work on that now with PPG and Team Chevy.”

“The race is very different than qualifying. We’ll have to see how that works out. Tires, in
my opinion, are quite different this year. So it will be interesting to see some guys that didn’t transfer, like a Will Power, for instance, it will be interesting to see how they
utilize their reds in the race.”

Colton Herta – Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America – By_ Chris Owens

Colton Herta, driver of the no 26 Gainbridge Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian, talked about his qualifying effort.

“We missed it a little bit in the (Firestone) Fast Six, otherwise we were really good. I was really happy with the balance on the Firestone (Alternate) Reds. We only missed it a tiny bit in the Fast Six, but we were close. I am happy with fifth and we will have to see what comes for the race.”

Fast Six Results

Pos No Name Time Diff Gap Speed Engine Tire Team
1 27 Alexander Rossi 1:44.8656 0.000s 0.000s 137.799 Honda Hards Andretti Autosport
2 2 Josef Newgarden 1:44.9371 0.0715 0.0715 137.705 Chevy Softs Team Penske
3 10 Alex Palou 1:45.3822 0.5166 0.4451 137.124 Honda Hards Chip Ganassi Racing
4 8 Marcus Ericsson 1:45.4240 0.5584 0.0418 137.069 Honda Hards Chip Ganassi Racing
5 26 Colton Herta 1:45.5388 0.6732 0.1148 136.920 Honda Hards Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian
6 5 Pato O’Ward 1:45.6826 0.8170 0.1438 136.734 Chevy Softs Arrow McLaren SP

 

Full Qualifying Results

Pos

Car

Driver Name

Engine

Time

Speed

Session

1

27

Rossi, Alexander

Honda

01:44.8656

137.799

Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six

2

2

Newgarden, Josef

Chevy

01:44.9371

137.705

Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six

3

10

Palou, Alex

Honda

01:45.3822

137.124

Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six

4

8

Ericsson, Marcus

Honda

01:45.4240

137.069

Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six

5

26

Herta, Colton

Honda

01:45.5388

136.920

Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six

6

5

O’Ward, Pato

Chevy

01:45.6826

136.734

Round 3 / Firestone Fast Six

7

28

Grosjean, Romain

Honda

01:45.1543

137.421

Elimination Round 2 / Top 12

8

7

Rosenqvist, Felix

Chevy

01:45.2307

137.321

Elimination Round 2 / Top 12

9

3

McLaughlin, Scott

Chevy

01:45.2412

137.307

Elimination Round 2 / Top 12

10

9

Dixon, Scott

Honda

01:45.2446

137.303

Elimination Round 2 / Top 12

11

60

Pagenaud, Simon

Honda

01:45.2759

137.262

Elimination Round 2 / Top 12

12

77

Ilott, Callum (R)

Chevy

No Time

No Speed

Elimination Round 2 / Top 12

13

30

Lundgaard, Christian (R)

Honda

01:45.4024

137.097

Elimination Round 1 / Group 1

14

18

Malukas, David (R)

Honda

01:45.6017

136.839

Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

15

12

Power, Will

Chevy

01:45.4227

137.071

Elimination Round 1 / Group 1

16

06

Castroneves, Helio

Honda

01:45.6217

136.813

Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

17

21

VeeKay, Rinus

Chevy

01:45.5581

136.895

Elimination Round 1 / Group 1

18

20

Daly, Conor

Chevy

01:45.7234

136.681

Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

19

51

Sato, Takuma

Honda

01:45.7045

136.706

Elimination Round 1 / Group 1

20

45

Harvey, Jack

Honda

01:45.9420

136.399

Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

21

29

DeFrancesco, Devlin (R)

Honda

01:46.0785

136.224

Elimination Round 1 / Group 1

22

15

Rahal, Graham

Honda

01:45.9951

136.331

Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

23

4

Kellett, Dalton

Chevy

01:46.9755

135.081

Elimination Round 1 / Group 1

24

14

Kirkwood, Kyle (R)

Chevy

01:46.6130

135.541

Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

25

11

Calderon, Tatiana (R)

Chevy

01:47.5661

134.340

Elimination Round 1 / Group 1

26

48

Johnson, Jimmie

Honda

01:47.3134

134.656

Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

27

16

De Silvestro, Simona

Chevy

01:48.1033

133.672

Elimination Round 1 / Group 2

(R) Rookie

Pursuant to Rule 8.3.5.1, Car 77 has had their 2 fastest laps invalidated and cannot advance.

Lucille Dust reporting live from Road America