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Patricio O’Ward scored the newly-formed Arrow McLaren SP partnership’s first IndyCar pole position in a shock result at Road America, narrowly denying rookie sensation Alex Palou the pole.
Qualifying is different this weekend – IndyCar’s first double-header of 2020 – from the usual knockout system. Instead the field is split into A and B groups, with each lining up down one side of the grid and the fastest driver’s group on the pole side.
In the first group, the three Penske drivers Simon Pagenaud, Josef Newgarden and Will Power, yesterday’s winner Scott Dixon and last year’s Road America polesitter Colton Herta all took part in a session stacked with quality.
Dixon and Newgarden – yesterday’s polesitter – both took the fastest time after the chequered flag, but it was the ever impressive Herta who stormed to the front at the last. He is third in the points standings entering this afternoon’s race, behind Dixon and Pagenaud, after a fifth in Saturday’s race.
Ryan Hunter-Reay took second in the session and Power slid into third, both of those laps coming after the chequered flag as it seemed the later you could leave a lap, the better.
Despite the first session being loaded with talent, either of the top two times in Group B would have been good enough for pole.
Palou twice passed Hunter-Reay to secure a first podium in IndyCar in race one at Road America yesterday, and delivered the fastest time just before the chequered flag in Group B qualifying.
Palou then bettered his time to beat Andretti Steinbrenner driver Herta’s mark, but O’Ward – who joined AMSP after a half-season with Carlin and then a foray with Red Bull’s junior programme last year – stormed to the top of the order with his last flying lap of the undulating classic circuit.
O’Ward was at the centre of two controversial incidents in Saturday’s race – clashing with Conor Daly and Pagenaud on his way to an eighth place finish, his second top 10 of the year.
With the qualifying order in an A-B-A-B format, O’Ward’s old Indy Lights challenger from 2018, Herta from Group A, will start alongside of him ahead of Group B’s Palou.
Hunter-Reay will start behind Dale Coyne racer Palou in fourth – the order the pair finished yesterday’s race – with Graham Rahal in fifth continuing his strong pace this weekend. He had set a rapid time on the harder tyres to save the condition of a set of soft red compound tyres for the race.
Dixon – the only winner this year after sweeping the first three races – will start from sixth, ahead of his Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Felix Rosenqvist.
Saturday runner-up Power will look to rebound from a gear ratio error yesterday and starts eighth, ahead of Jack Harvey – who was robbed of a top five on Saturday with a brake issue after qualifying second.
Alexander Rossi went some way to kickstarting his season – which has yielded a best finish of 15th so far – with fifth in Group A, meaning he’ll line up 10th at a track the Andretti Autosport driver won at last year. He went off the track early in yesterday’s race and then clashed with Max Chilton late on, finishing 19th.
Pagenaud’s qualifying struggles continued, as he was 17th yesterday and 22nd today. A drivethrough penalty for speeding in the pits during qualifying compromised him.
Dixon won the race from ninth on the grid yesterday, with the undercut strategy meaning drivers can make up a lot of ground during the pitstop phases and reducing the importance of qualifying.
