IndyCar Toronto starting lineup: Colton Herta became the first driver with multiple pole positions this season, qualifying first on the streets of Toronto in his No. 26 Dallara-Honda.
After testing a Formula One car for the first time at the start of the week in Portugal, the Andretti Autosport quickly made the transition back to the NTT IndyCar Series with a 59.2698-second lap around the streets of Toronto.
“I was a little bit worried about maybe taking a session to get back into it,” Herta said. “But as soon as I got in the car, the seating position and everything is so different that it was almost kind of like a light switch just flicked in my head that this was the Indy car. It took maybe one or two laps. The actual driving style isn’t incredibly different, so it was pretty seamless to kind of go back and forth.
TIRE DESIGNATIONS: Driver choices on primary or alternate to start the race
“Couldn’t have been much better. I’m really happy with the team’s performance.”
Scott Dixon (59.3592) qualified second as the six-time series champion reached the final qualifying round for only the second time this season on a street or road course. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver is a three-time winner in Toronto, mostly recently in 2018.
“It’s been a good weekend for us,” Dixon said. “I think all the cars rolled off really well. It was just trying to keep up with the track was a little bit of it. Probably over-attacked on the last lap there, lost quite a bit of time in (Turn 6). There’s always things you can improve.
“Congrats to Colton, it was a great lap. Looking forward to starting close up to the front and hopefully have a clean day.”
Josef Newgarden qualified third, followed by Alexander Rossi, rookie David Malukas and Scott McLaughlin rounding out the Fast Six.
QUALIFYING RESULTS: Click here for the full report from Toronto l Round 1, Group 1 l Round 1, Group 2 l Round 2 l Fast Six
INDYCAR AT TORONTO: How to watch Sunday’s race on Peacock, schedules, entry list
Points leader and Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson qualified ninth.
Some contenders will be coming from deep in the field as Will Power (16th), Alex Palou (22nd) and Pato O’Ward (15th) all failed to advance from the first round of qualifying.
An eventful week continued for Palou, who damaged his No. 10 Dallara-Honda in a Turn 2 crash during Saturday morning’s practice session. He lost power and stopped on track during qualifying, causing a red flag.
The defending series champion is embroiled in a contract dispute with Chip Ganassi Racing, which said it will retain Palou next season even as the driver has signed with McLaren Racing.
Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile street course (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine, time, speed):
ROW 1
1. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 59.2698 (108.480)
2. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 59.3592 (108.317)
ROW 2
3. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 59.5257 (108.014)
4. (27) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 59.5544 (107.962)
ROW 3
5. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 59.6140 (107.854)
6. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 59.9558 (107.239)
ROW 4
7. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 59.6352 (107.816)
8. (7) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 59.6630 (107.765)
ROW 5
9. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 59.8527 (107.424)
10. (30) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 59.9151 (107.312)
ROW 6
11. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 01:00.0819 (107.014)
12. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 01:14.8882 (85.856)
ROW 7
13. (45) Jack Harvey, Honda, 01:00.0212 (107.122)
14. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:00.6805 (105.958)
ROW 8
15. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 01:00.1193 (106.947)
16. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:00.7974 (105.755)
ROW 9
17. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 01:00.2712 (106.678)
18. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 01:00.7974 (105.755)
ROW 10
19. (51) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:00.5324 (106.217)
20. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 01:01.0870 (105.253)
ROW 11
21. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 01:00.9817 (105.435)
22. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 01:03.0514 (101.974)
ROW 12
23. (4) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, No Time (No Speed)
24. (14) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 01:03.2511 (101.652)
ROW 13
25. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 01:05.2593 (98.524)