It will be an all-Chip Ganassi Racing front row for Saturday’s IndyCar Grand Prix, as rookie Felix Rosenqvist scored his first IndyCar pole position Friday afternoon.
The driver of the No. 10 NTT Data Honda set the fastest lap of the session with an elapsed time of 1 minute, 8.2785 seconds.
“The first two laps, I didn’t really feel like I had a (tire) grip, and then the final lap, there was something switching on and I was like, ‘OK, this could be good,” Rosenqvist told NBCSN. “But honest, I didn’t think it was going to be (fast enough). It’s so tight. I looked up at the screen, and we were P1. I just prayed it was going to hold ‘til the end.”
Rosenqvist’s first career pole comes in just his fifth start. With the past four winners of this race starting from the pole, Rosenqvist put himself in good position to claim his first series victory Saturday.
It's an all @CGRTeams front row for the #INDYCARGP!
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) May 10, 2019
Rookie @FRosenqvist gets the pole, and defending @INDYCAR champ @ScottDixon9 will start alongside. @IMS pic.twitter.com/nNoZQBeGc6
Scott Dixon (1 minute, 8.2979 seconds) will start alongside Rosenqvist in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda, with Jack Harvey (1 minute, 8.3238 seconds) starting third after making his first career Firestone Fast Six appearance.
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Will Power, whose three victories in the IndyCar GP have all come from pole position, was unable to capture his fourth pole on the 2.439-mile road course and will start sixth, his worst IndyCar GP start since 2016.
“I think we’ve just back foot all day honestly,” Power told NBCSN. “The lap I did to get into the Fast Six was just a neat, neat lap on a right time on the tires. It’s killing me to only be P6! But it’s so competitive, man. [If] you’re a little bit out of the window, you’re going to struggle.”
In a surprising first round of qualifying, both series points leader Josef Newgarden and Long Beach winner Alexander Rossi were not fast enough to advance. Newgarden qualified 13th, and Rossi was 17th.