Indy road course starting lineup: Felix Rosenqivst on pole

Indy road course starting lineup: Felix Rosqnevist captured his third career pole position Friday in the No. 7 Dallara-Chevrolet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, where the championship race took several interesting turns.

Rosenqvist qualified first for Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix (noon ET, NBC) with a lap of 1 minute, 10.2265 seconds around the 14-turn, 2.439-mile layout. It was the second pole at the IMS road course for the Swede, who also started first here in 2019.

Rosenqvist also was on the pole for the March 20 race at Texas Motor Speedway but suffered a mechanical failure on his Arrow McLaren SP car.

TIRE DESIGNATIONS: Click here to see the starting lineup’s compound selection for the green flag

QUALIFYING RESULTS: Click here for the full report from Indy road course l Round 1, Group 1 l Round 1, Group 2 l Round 2 l Fast Six

INDY ROAD COURSE: How to watch Saturday’s race on NBC, schedules, entry list

“I felt so calm in the car,” Rosenqvist said. “I think I knew when I did that lap that it was the one. Big, big thanks to the team. Really good car.”

Alexander Rossi was second 0.2765 seconds behind Rosenqvist, the second-biggest margin from first to second on a road or street course this season (Colton Herta won the Long Beach pole by 0.4455 seconds).

“That’s a huge effort from Felix,” said Rossi, who will start a career-best second on the IMS road course in his final start at the track for Andretti Autosport before leaving for McLaren next season. “Good job for him. This is by far the best result we’ve had here as a team. We had a good test here last month and very relieved it translated.”

Pato O’Ward, Rosenqvist’s teammate, qualified third, followed by Penske teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden, who had been cleared to drive Thursday after being hospitalized last week.

Find yourself a hype man like @PatricioOWard.

Pato was pumped to see his @ArrowMcLarenSP teammate, @FRosenqvist, grab the pole for Saturday's NTT @INDYCAR SERIES race at @IMS. pic.twitter.com/Q2GDCIobXw

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) July 29, 2022

The two-time series champion took a serious points hit when he crashed while leading last Sunday at Iowa Speedway (in a race won by O’Ward). Newgarden would have entered Indy with the points lead if he’d won (and swept the weekend at Iowa after winning last Saturday).

NTT IndyCar Series points leader Marcus Ericsson, who leads Power by eight points with five races remaining, had a nightmarish qualifying session.

After stopping on track in Turn 6 with a mechanical problem on a warmup lap, Ericsson was unable to make a qualifying lap. His No. 8 Dallara-Honda will start last in a 25-car field.

Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, who is 34 points behind Ericsson in pursuit of a seventh championship, will start 20th after another disappointing qualifying session.

Power leads all drivers with five victories on the IMS road course and seems poised to strike in the title hunt starting in the top two rows.

Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for Saturday’s Gallagher Indy GP on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine, time, speed):

ROW 1

1. (7) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 01:10.2265 (125.030)
2. (27) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 01:10.5030 (124.539)

ROW 2

3. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 01:10.6092 (124.352)
4. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:10.6224 (124.329)

ROW 3

5. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 01:10.6968 (124.198)
6. (30) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 01:10.7280 (124.143)

ROW 4

7. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 01:10.2074 (125.064)
8. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 01:10.3100 (124.881)

ROW 5

9. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 01:10.3532 (124.805)
10. (20) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 01:10.5135 (124.521)

ROW 6

11. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 01:10.5636 (124.432)
12. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 01:10.7624 (124.083)

ROW 7

13. (45) Jack Harvey, Honda, 01:10.8564 (123.918)
14. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 01:10.7073 (124.180)

ROW 8

15. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 01:10.9067 (123.830)
16. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 01:10.7560 (124.094)

ROW 9

17. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:10.9093 (123.826)
18. (51) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:10.8276 (123.969)

ROW 10

19. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 01:11.1195 (123.460)
20. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 01:10.8938 (123.853)

ROW 11

21. (14) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 01:11.2156 (123.293)
22. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 01:11.0244 (123.625)

ROW 12

23. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 01:11.7710 (122.339)
24. (4) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 01:12.0060 (121.940)

ROW 13

25. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, No Time (No Speed)

The focus of the Detroit Monster Energy Supercross round was on the mid-pack battle while Aaron Plessinger pulled away from the field, but when he crashed after hooking his foot in the dirt, the results once more looked like we’ve come to expect, with Chase Sexton, Cooper Webb and Eli Tomac sharing the podium for the fifth time in 10 rounds.

Supercross Results Detroit — *Justin Barcia was part of an exciting, four-rider battle in the middle of Detroit’s A-Main. – Feld Motor Sports*

For Sexton, Plessinger’s late-race crash was a vindication of sorts. Several times already this season, Sexton has crashed while battling for the lead and the points that has cost him keeps him sporting the red plate. He lost points in Detroit for a different reason, however.

Sexton was allowed to keep the win, but was penalized seven points for jumping in a red cross section of the course. As a result, he dropped four points to Webb and two to Tomac. Sexton is now 17 points behind Webb in the championship hunt.

RESULTS: Click here for full 450 Overall Results; Click here for 250 Overall Results

One week after snatching the red plate from Tomac for the first time in 2023, Webb stretched his advantage by two. With his second-place finish, Webb holds a three-point lead over Tomac, which essentially means both riders control their fate in the coming weeks. Webb continues to have a sweep of the top five this season with his sixth consecutive podium.

Coming off his worst finish of the season, Tomac rebounded to finish third. His eighth-place result last week was partially attributed to a stiff neck that hindered him in traffic and he still suffered some of those same effects in Detroit. Before Plessinger’s crash, he was destined to be the only rider in the three-man title scrum to finish off the podium in Detroit.

It is surprising what one position can do for one’s confidence.

Click here for 450 Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Last Chance Qualifier | Lap Chart

Justin Barcia scored his fourth top-five of the season. He was part of the exciting four-man battle that dominated the middle stages of the race before Sexton and Webb gained a little separation. Finishing less than three seconds behind Tomac, he kept that rider honest for the entire race.

Coming off his first win of the season, Ken Roczen finished fifth. It was his seventh top-five of the season and it elevated him to fifth in the standings.

Plessinger’s fall took the wind from his sails. He attempted to right his bike after a hard crash, but as it smoked and pinged, he dropped to 13th in the final rundown.

Click here for 450 Overall results | Rider Points | Manufacturer Points

Hunter Lawrence tied his brother Jett Lawrence with 10 wins each after another dominating ride in the Detroit Supercross race and the results in the points continue to widen. With his fifth win in six rounds and a worst finish of third, Lawrence now has a 35-point advantage over Nate Thrasher with four rounds remaining. Finishes of 14th or better in the final four mains will give him his first 250 championship.

Jett will have an opportunity to retake his wins’ lead as Supercross heads west for the next two rounds in Seattle and Glendale, Arizona.

Nate Thrasher earned his third second-place finish of the season with a gap of 7.6 seconds to Lawrence. He won the overall in Arlington earlier this season, but a 15th-place finish in the opening round in Houston and 10th in Daytona hurts his championship chances.

Click here for 250 Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Last Chance Qualifier | Lap Chart

Haiden Deegan scored his second podium and fourth top-five in six rounds of his young career. On his way to that finish, he rode aggressively against his teammate Jordon Smith in the heat race. Fans are getting a glimpse of what his on-track personality might be.

Jeremy Martin continues to be the model of consistency. He has not finished worse than sixth or better than fourth in six rounds now and that has allowed him to close to within two points of third in the 250 East championship standings.

Rounding out the top five is Chris Blose, who was pressed into service at the start of the season because of a rash of injuries at Pro Circuit Kawasaki. This is Blose’s first top-five of the season, although he’s steadily improved over the past five rounds.

Click here for 250 Overall results | 250 East Rider Points | 250 Combined Rider Points

Max Anstie entered the race weekend second in the points, but a hard crash in heavy traffic early in the main forced him to retire after two laps. Earning only one point for the round, he plummeted to fifth in the standings.

The news was worse for Smith, who was dropped out of the top nine in his heat after the altercation with Deegan and failed to advance through the LCQ. In the last chance race, he stalled his engine and had to mount a determined charge. He got only as high as seventh in that race after crashing while attempting to make a pass on fourth-place Jack Chambers.

2023 Results

Round 10: Chace Sexton wins, penalized
Round 9: Ken Roczen wins
Round 8: Eli Tomac wins 7th Daytona
Round 7: Cooper Webb wins second race
Race 6: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence win
Race 5: Webb, Hunter Lawrence win
Race 4: Tomac, H Lawrence win
Race 3: Chase Sexton, Levi Kitchen win
Race 2: Tomac, J Lawrence win
Round 1: Tomac, J Lawrence win