Colton Herta won a tight battle with team mate Kyle Kirkwood to lead an Andretti one-two in qualifying for this weekend’s IndyCar race in Toronto.
Pole changed hands between the team mates twice in the dying minutes of the session. But Herta’s later lap of 59.5431 seconds was enough to deny Kirkwood by a tenth of a second, and secure his third pole position of the season.
Felix Rosenqvist took third on the grid ahead of Scott McLaughlin, the highest-placed driver in the championship to reach the Fast Six, who was last to set a time in the session. His final effort displaced Romain Grosjean from the front row, leaving him fifth ahead of David Malukas.
The Meyer Shank driver was fortunate to secure a place in the Fast Six after spinning off at turn eight. He lost his best time up to that point as the yellow flag he caused affected another driver, but was able to set a quick enough time to make the cut before the session ended.
He beat Josef Newgarden to the last place in the Fast Six by a hundredth of a second. His team mate Will Power also went no further after showcasing phenomenal reactions by catching a snap of oversteer approaching turn eight. The two Penskes were separated by Graham Rahal, while Canapino, Marcus Ericsson and Christian Rasmussen also went no further.
None of the three McLaren drivers made it beyond their first rounds. Pato O’Ward was fuming after being held up by a succession of drivers in group two, including Alex Palou, who originally made the cut.
However after reviewing footage of the incident at turn five the stewards penalised Palou, who therefore joined O’Ward in elimination. The benefactor of this was not O’Ward, but Agustin Canapino, who had originally been beaten to the last place in Group Two by his team mate Grosjean by a mere 0.0002 seconds.
Full qualifying result to follow.
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