LEXINGTON, Ohio – Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden scored IndyCar pole No. 14 with a last-second qualifying run Saturday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Newgarden’s final lap came after the checkered flag waved and by the time he completed the run, his time of 1:06.6739 around the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course secured him the pole for Sunday’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
He knocked Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta off the pole by just three-thousandths of a second.
LINEUP: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio
“That was a little tighter than I wanted it to be,” Newgarden said. “I about fell out of the seat on that final lap. It’s time for these races to start falling our way. It’s also the 50th year from when Team Penske and Roger Penske won their first Indy car race with Mark Donohue.
“It’s so cool, reaming to drive for Roger Penske.”
Herta’s lap time was 1:06.6770 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. Marcus Ericsson was third at 1:07.0723 followed by Team Penske’s Will Power at 1:07.1161, Scott Dixon at 1:07.1358 and Alexander Rossi at 1:07.2181.
The two top championship contenders, including points leader Alex Palou and second place Pato O’Ward, were not in the Firestone Fast Six.
Herta and Power swapped the lead in the final portion of qualifications leading to the culmination in the closing seconds with five drivers still on the track.
Earlier in qualifications, in the final minute of the first session, first group, Newgarden, Harvey and Palou swapped first position with Newgarden keeping the spot with a fast lap at 1:06.0168 in the No. 2 Chevrolet. Harvey was second at 1:06.4515 in the No. 60 Honda followed by Simon Pagenaud’s Chevrolet and Palou’s Honda.
Power, who was involved in an incident leaving pit lane with Felix Rosenqvist, was able to race his way into fifth position on the closing lap at 1:06.5423. Race Control reviewed the incident between the two drivers. No action was taken.
Harvey spun on the last lap to bring out both a local and full-course caution at the end of the session. That led to confusion on pit lane about whether Harvey would lose his fast lap. However, Alexander Rossi was forced to lift because of the local yellow.
Initially missing the cut were Sebastien Bourdais, followed by Alexander Rossi, Rosenqvist, Max Chilton’, Takuma Sato, Dalton Kellett and Jimmie Johnson.
Harvey lost his fastest lap, which took him out of the group that advanced. Pagenaud also lost his fast time for not slowing down in the local yellow. That allowed Bourdais and Rossi to advance into the next round.
“I guess it’s the rules, but that’s the second race I’ve had an issue in qualifying,” Bourdais said. “It’s unfortunate when your car has so much speed and doesn’t get to advance.”
The second group featured Dixon waiting until seven seconds were left in the session to jump to P1 at 1:06.5637. A few seconds later, that speed was topped by Herta’s 1:06.2685 in the No. 26 Capstone Energy Honda.
Advancing out of that round, in order, were Herta, Dixon, Ericsson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and Rinus VeeKay. Missing the cut were Scott McLaughlin, Ed Jones, Romain Grosjean, O’Ward, Santino Ferrucci, Conor Daly and Ryan Norman.
All four of the Andretti Autosport cars advanced into the second round.
“We’ve had inconsistency from tire to tire,” a disappointed O’Ward said. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t want to point any fingers. I screwed up.
“It sucks. It sucks to start so far back.”
O’Ward will start 20th in the 26-car field that takes the green flag at Noon on Sunday.
In the second round, Bourdais had the fastest lap with 2 minutes remaining, but was penalized by Race Control for exceeding pit lane speed at pit in. Palou had the fast lap with 30 seconds to go but he was punted by Herta, Power and later Newgarden in the closing seconds.
Dixon was able to get into the Fast Six and Ericsson bumped out his teammate, Palou, at the end of the session.
Advancing into the Fast Six in order were Newgarden, Herta, Power, Rossi, Dixon, and Ericsson.
“You always want to get in Fast Six,” Palou said. “I’m super close. It’s going to be fun. We have a good race car. It feels super good when you get wins. Every weekend, we fight for wins. It will be difficult starting seventh, but we’ll keep on going and performing and fighting.
“If we get wins, it will be easier.”
Rahal was among one of the six that didn’t advance.
“The pace was good, but very tricky to drive,” Rahal said. “We started eighth last year. Would like to qualify better. I think our race car is pretty good, but we need to qualify better. It’s not good to see, but our race cars are always pretty good, so we’ll be fine.”