O’Ward missiles to the post for IndyCar opener at Barber

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In the battle for pole position at Barber Motorsports Park, three drivers from Chip Ganassi Racing and one from Andretti Autosport, Arrow McLaren SP and Team Penske hurled their cars over the stunning 2.4-mile road course, and once the Firestone Fast Six was settled, Blitz Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP left the group with his second pole.

“GOOOOOOO,” the 2018 Indy Lights champion shouted over the radio after taking first place with a lap of 1m05.8479s in the No. 5 Chevy. The 24-year-old Mexican was indeed a headache for the others as he led the Fast Six and Fast 12 sessions, and Andretti’s Alexander Rossi next to him in the front row in the No. 27 Honda (+ 0.0698s).

“Man, we made some changes after practice 2, and we worked so hard off-season,” said O’Ward. “I knew exactly what I needed to take time out of the [Firestone] red. We did that and we start on pole. We have a race to win tomorrow. “

CGR’s Alex Palou led his trio in third place with the No. 10 Honda (+ .2059s), Penske’s willpower was fourth in the No. 12 Chevy (+ .2707s) and CGR’s Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Honda (+0.5497) s) and Marcus Ericsson in the No. 10 Honda (+ 0.5623s) completed the sextet.

Just outside the Fast Six, ex-Formula 1 driver and NTT IndyCar Series rookie Romain Grosjean was all smiles after qualifying seventh in No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing Honda. Even better for the Frenchman was the fact that he moved two-time champion Josef Newgarden, who started eighth.

“I had some traffic, but it doesn’t really matter today,” he said. “I am very proud of the guys who brought me to P7. I was just thinking about Josef Newgarden being one of the stars of the series and knows Barber very well. So I think we can be super happy with that. I think we showed that the work we did in testing worked well. “

AS IT HAPPENED

In the first 10-minute session, with half the field moving out and six moving forward to the Firestone Fast 12, the luck of the qualifying draw was not in Team Penske’s favor as all four cars in the same group were thrown. CGR’s Marcus Ericsson led the 12 drivers on the first lap of the fastest laps, and when the field made a pit stop, reset and headed out for a final blast around Barber, teammate Alex Palou rode a monster lap – first under 1m06s with a 1m05.9032s- to claim P1.

Behind Palou in the six who switched were Penske’s Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin – with an epic final lap – in a row, Ericsson and Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey. Those who failed to transfer were Ed Jones, Simon Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato, Jimmie Johnson, and Dalton Kellett in order.

In the second 10-minute session, where the other half of the field went out and six moved forward in the Firestone Fast 12, it turned red for less than three minutes as James Hinchcliffe slid across the grass and gravel in Turn 5 and his car entered the tire barrier. The No. 29 Andretti Honda was not damaged, but instead of re-setting the car on fire, the IndyCar safety team dragged it behind the barriers and left Hinchcliffe to watch the rest of the session.

There were less than five minutes to chase a fast time and in the final tour, Pato O’Ward went for a wild ride over the top at Turn 13 to knock Romain Grosjean off P1 with a lap of 1m06.0696s, only 0.0013s head start. of the DCRwRWR driver. Behind the two were Conor Daly and Alexander Rossi.

Moments after O’Ward crossed the line to go to P1, his teammate Felix Rosenqvist took a wild ride on Turn 15, which left his car stuck and stuck in the gravel.

At that point, Rosenqvist lost his two fastest laps fifth to drop out of the transferring group, Scott Dixon moved from sixth to fifth and Colton Herta promoted from outside the group in seventh place to inside sixth. The six that did not go further were Rinus VeeKay, Sebastien Bourdais, Graham Rahal, Max Chilton, Rosenqvist and Hinchcliffe.

In the first lap of the Firestone Fast 12, where the top six would transfer, Colton Herta set the best lap on Firestone’s primary tires at 1m06.4171s before the group made the pit stop and installed the faster red striped alternate tires. As the best laps started to roll in, Romain Grosjean took P1, and in the space of one minute fell back to P7, missing the Firestone Fast Six by just 0.0690 seconds.

The fastest with another lap record was Pato O’Ward in P1 with a 1m5.5019s. From second to sixth place were Will Power, Alex Palou, Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi.

Starting with Grosjean on the other end of the transfer line in P7, it was a few disappointed drivers in Josef Newgarden and Colton Herta in P8 and P9, and a trio of Conor Daly, Jack Harvey and Scott McLaughlin who completed the top 12.

TAKEAWAYS

Fastest Driver: Pato O’Ward, 1m05.8479s

Slowest driver: James Hinchcliffe, no time

Notable mentions:

  • Strong day for Conor Daly who led the Ed Carpenter Racing team in P10. Relatively quiet day for teammate Rinus VeeKay in P14, who is also dealing with his finger injury from the recent Indy Open Test.
  • It’s a small win, but kudos to Jimmie Johnson who was 0.1008 seconds faster than lifelong road racer Dalton Kellett in their qualifying group. It kept the rookie from starting last on his IndyCar debut, and with some of the other driver dramas in the ensuing laps, Johnson settled in P21 out of 24.
  • Tip of the hat for Jack Harvey who, driving for the Andretti-affiliated MSR team, was third fastest in the group’s five cars.
  • That’s three consecutive sessions where Team Penske’s Pagenaud was the last of The Captain’s four entries.
  • Rough first day for AMSP’s new man Rosenqvist. If a solo FP1 crash in the pit lane wasn’t enough of a head shooter, turning away in qualifying to finish in P22 while his teammate took pole isn’t the kind of thing to bolster one’s confidence.
  • Dissatisfaction with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing persisted in every session on Saturday as Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato qualified for P18 and P19 respectively.
  • It’s not something that Penske’s Scott McLaughlin will fall in love with himself, but qualifying in P12 for his second IndyCar race was impressive.
  • Considering how punitive the first rounds were for him in 2020, a midfield start for Hunter-Reay is the opposite of what he wanted to open the year.
  • The AJ Foyt Racing team were extra fast during the pre-season tests, but struggled to find the pace on Saturday with Sebastien Bourdais qualifying P16.
  • Marcus Ericsson! His team has been optimistic about his chances this year, and if his performance on Saturday means anything, the Swede could play a role.

Next up: Warm up, 11:30 a.m. ET, on Peacock

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