Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing won the pole position. That’s not a typo.
Ten years after Takuma Sato earned the team’s last pole position in 2014, the 26-year-old Connecticut native was a rocket in the No. 14 Chevrolet, outpacing the entire field on his way to first place, and with one more lap to go, Ferrucci turned in an even faster lap to wrap up the win around Portland International Raceway in 58.2046 seconds.
Team Penske’s Will Power tried to beat his junior teammate Foyts (the Penske team provides Foyts with damper and chassis setup data) but couldn’t get close in the No. 12 Chevrolet (58.3120 seconds). Championship leader Alex Palou, who set the fastest time early in qualifying, also couldn’t hold a candle to Ferrucci in the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (58.4316 seconds).
“We all know how hard we’ve worked this year,” Ferrucci said. “This is my first career pole position in IndyCar, but I’m not known for leading qualifiers, so to get this result feels great. I can’t thank this team enough. We got the win.”
Following Palou was Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard in fourth place (58.5809 seconds) in the No. 45 Honda, Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood in 58.5960 seconds in the No. 27 Honda, and RLL’s Graham Rahal put in a strong performance for his team in sixth place (58.6332 seconds).
Foyt and Ferrucci weren’t the only surprises Saturday afternoon. The other big news was the long list of promising contenders who fell far short of expectations, including Andretti’s Colton Herta (10th), Ganassi’s Scott Dixon (11th) and Penske’s Scott McLaughlin (14th), who are second, third and fifth in the championship. The Arrow McLaren team as a whole fell apart in qualifying, with Alexander Rossi finishing the best of the three (18th), ahead of Pato O’Ward (23rd) and Nolan Siegel (24th).
On Sunday, everyone will complete 110 laps to try to resolve the issue.
Herta and Andretti return to IndyCar Championship
McLaughlin leads Marcus in Portland’s second practice
McLaughlin takes the lead during Friday’s practice in Portland.
The Firestone Fast 12 eliminations began, with 14 drivers vying for the top six transfer spots, and at the end of the 10-minute run the lucky six came out on top: Lundgaard, Kirkwood, Ferrucci, Herta, Rahal and Dixon.
Drivers who held their positions were Pietro Fittipaldi (starting P13), Rinus Viekay (P15), Christian Rasmussen (P17), the surprising David Markus (P19), Toby Sawerly (P21), O’Ward (P23), Sting Ray Robb (P25) and Conor Daly (P27).
The second phase of the Fast 12 knockout qualifying sessions saw the top six advance: Palou, Power, Marcus Armstrong, Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean and Josef Newgarden.
Failing to qualify was Scott McLaughlin (P14), who was quickest in the first two practice sessions, followed by impressive performances from Juri Vips (P16), Rossi (P18), Felix Rosenqvist (P20), Rinus Lundqvist (P22), Siegel (P24), Kiffin Simpson (P26) and Jack Harvey (P28).
Three minutes into the regular first 12, Palou hit the nose of his car on a tyre in the final corner but quickly backed out and was able to continue without bringing out a yellow flag.
7th to 12th place went to Newgarden, Grosjean, Armstrong, Herta, Dixon and Ericsson.
UP NEXT: Final practice is at 8:15pm ET.
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