Herta, Rossi Sweep Front Row for Honda in Road America Qualifying
Already Indy car's youngest race winner – a mark he set in March at the Circuit of the Americas – Herta edged fellow Honda driver Alexander Rossi by just 0.1773 seconds around the four-mile Road America circuit in Saturday's Firestone "Fast Six" final round of NTT IndyCar Series "knockout" qualifying to secure his historic pole.
Graham Rahal, the former holder of both youngest race and pole winner records prior to Herta, will start his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda from fifth, with teammate Takuma Sato alongside in sixth as Honda driver's claimed four of the top-six qualifying positions.
Although failing to advance to Fast Six final qualifying, Sebastien Bourdais will start his Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda from seventh. James Hinchcliffe and Marco Andretti also advanced to the second qualifying round, and will start ninth and tenth, respectively. Although he advanced out of first-round qualifying, mechanical issues prevented defending series champion Scott Dixon from running in the second round, and he will start his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda from 12th.
Live network television coverage of Sunday's 55-lap REV Group Grand Prix, the 10th round of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season, begins at 12 p.m. EDT Sunday on NBC.
Colton Herta (Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda) Pole qualifier, first career IndyCar Series pole, youngest pole qualifier in Indy car history: "I'm so happy with how the day went. The #88 GESS Capstone Honda guys are all working so hard and so well together. The car was fast. This is the first time that we've had that edge in qualifying to go for pole, and I loved it. We really took advantage of it and got the best starting position for tomorrow. Now we'll keep checking the weather [the possibility of rain is in the local forecast] and make changes accordingly so we can have a great race!"
Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport Honda) Qualified second: "It came down to the [final lap], but that's the NTT IndyCar Series. It's what we have week in and week out, and requires perfection from both the team and the driver. It was a good day, I think in general for the #27 NAPA Andretti boys – and congratulations to [pole qualifier] Colton [Herta], he did a good job. It's unfortunate to miss out on the [championship] point [awarded to the pole winner] that we need. But that's the way it is. We're ahead of [main championship rival] Josef [Newgarden, on the starting grid] and we'll try to keep it that way."
NTT IndyCar Series REV Group Grand Prix
SOURCE Honda Racing/HPD
Circuit:
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Road America (4.0-mile road course) Elkhart Lake, Wis.
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2018 Winner:
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Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) 132.101 mph average
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Weather:
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Sunny, mild, breezy, 73 degrees F
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Top-12 Qualifying Results:
Ps.
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Driver
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Team
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Manufacturer
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Best Time
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Notes
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1.
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Colton Herta-R
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Harding Steinbrenner Racing
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Honda
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1:42.9920
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140.306 mph average
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2.
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Alexander Rossi
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Andretti Autosport
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Honda
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1:43.1693
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+ 0.773 seconds
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3.
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Will Power
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Team Penske
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Chevrolet
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1:43.3749
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Fast Six final qualifier
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4.
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Josef Newgarden
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Team Penske
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Chevrolet
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1:43.6036
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Fast Six final qualifier
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5.
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Graham Rahal
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Rahal Letterma n Lanigan
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Honda
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1:43.8077
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Fast Six final qualifier
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6.
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Takuma Sato
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Rahal Letterman Lanigan
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Honda
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1:43.8790
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Fast Six final qualifier
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7.
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Sebastien Bourdais
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DCR with Vasser-Sullivan
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Honda
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1:43.2989
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2nd round qualifying
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8.
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Spencer Pigot
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Ed Carpenter Racing
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Chevrolet
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1:43.3083
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2nd round qualifying
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9.
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James Hinchcliffe
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Arrow Schmidt Peterson
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Honda
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1:43.3814
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2nd round qualifying
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10.
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Marco Andretti
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Andretti Autosport
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Honda
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1:43.3945
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2nd round qualifying
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11.
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Ed Jones
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Ed Carpenter Racing
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Chevrolet
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1:43.5162
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2nd round qualifying
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12.
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Scott Dixon
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Chip Ganassi Racing
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Honda
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No time
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Mechanical issue Q2
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Other Honda Results
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14.
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Zach Veach
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Andretti Autosport
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Honda
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1:43.4488
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1st round, Group 2
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15.
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Ryan Hunter-Reay
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Andretti Autosport
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Honda
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1:43.6980
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1st round, Group 1
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17.
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Marcus Ericsson-R
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Arrow Schmidt Peterson
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Honda
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1:43.8913
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1st round, Group 1
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18.
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Felix Rosenqvist-R
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Chip Ganassi Racing
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Honda
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1:43.5038
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1st round, Group 2
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19.
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Jack Harvey
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Meyer Shank Racing
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Honda
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1:44.6179
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1st round, Group 1
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21.
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Santino Ferrucci-R
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Dale Coyne Racing
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Honda
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1:49.3060
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1st round, Group 1
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