Qualifying begins at Portland, the only track in the Pacific Northwest that the NTT IndyCar series stops at. Last year Arrow McLaren were not as fast as they hoped to be at this track during qualifying. Today might be a different story with Lungaard setting good times during Friday’s practice. Full report and results below.
Palou in his No. 10 CGR winning car has yet another chance to grab a pole position today and win significant points on Sunday.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster has advantage over fellow rookie Shwartzman as they both battle for best rookie position. This is the Israeli driver’s first time racing in the Pacific Northwest.
Breaking News
INDYCAR has announced a six-position starting grid penalty for the entry of No. 2 Team Penske [Josef Newgarden] for an unapproved engine change following this morning’s practice at Portland International Raceway.
The entry was in violation of:
Rule 16.1.2.3.2. A fifth (5th) Engine is eligible to earn Engine Manufacturer points if a Full Season Entrant has completed the Full Season Entrant Engine Mileage with its first four (4) Engines. Otherwise, a fifth (5th) or more Engine does not earn Engine Manufacturer points and will be considered an Unapproved Engine change-out.
According to Rule 16.1.6.1.2., the penalty is a six-position starting grid penalty on road and street course events and nine positions at oval events and will be served at the series’ next event, which is the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland presented by askROI Sunday, Aug. 10 at PIR.
Round 1 – Group 1
Track temps are lower for qualifying than they were for Practice 1 on Friday. Temps for qualifying are sitting at 103.5 Fahrenheit.
As the first group prepares to start, all drivers on the grid are within nine-tenths of a second from each other. Three out of thirteen drivers decide to start of the red soft tires
2 rookies battle each other in group 1 – Shwartzman starts on the red tires and Foster on the blacks.
Palou zips to the front with a time of 59.670 but is bumped to fourth as Simpson comes in with a time of 58.550. Robb spins out near the backside of the track but quickly rights himself again, preventing delays. Malukas is given a drive-through penalty four minutes into the session for cutting through turns 1 and 2.
PREMA rookie Shwartzman site right at sixth but is pushed out by Veekay. Both drivers are now under the cut-off line.
The red flag is brought out as Shwartzman finds himself in the barriers. He was able to restart the car and drive back to the pits, however, he will be out for the rest of the session. The rookie crashed right before the finish/start straight around turns 9-10-11.
The brief red flag buys the drivers some more time to put down faster laps. Malukas takes advantage of this and sets down 58.4601.
Veekay runs off track as he snaps the steering wheel, trying to right himself. He will start the race from 23rd place. Shwartzman will be starting Sunday from 25th place.
Round 1 – Group 1 results
- Palou
- Simpson
- Power
- Armstrong
- Rossi
- Malukas
- MaLaughlin
- Ferrucci
- Foster
- Siegel
- Robb
- Veekay
- Shwartzman
Round 1 – Group 2
Group 2 is out on track with Newgarden heading straight for the top only to be met with the speedy Herta coming from behind.
Lundgaard comes through with a new fast lap of 1:00.366 but is unseated by Kirkwood who looks to get it done. Teammates Kirkwood and Ericsson find themselves right next to each other at the top with times just a few hundredths apart.
Five minutes into group 2, DeFrancesco finds himself sitting in fifth with a 59.080. He is running out of the pits with a set of sticker soft tires.
Herta comes out of the pits to start a warm up lap and get up to speed on hard tires. The tires start to warm slowly once he comes back around to start another lap.
Ilott sits at 59.100 but dips below the cut-off line; Rosenqvist zooms ahead into the top 6. O’Ward comes up and takes first place with 58.251.
Newgarden looks to improve his time and makes it into third as group 2 finishes up on track. Herta is unfortunately out of qualifying along with teammate Kirkwood.
Round 1 – Group 2 results
- O’Ward
- Ericsson
- Newgarden
- Dixon
- Lundgaard
- Rosenqvist
- DeFrancesco
- Herta
- Rasmussen
- Kirkwood
- Rahal
- Ilott
- Daly
- Abel
Round 2
Round 2 drivers take to the track with ten minutes to enter the Firestone Fast.
Newgarden starts at the top with a 1:01.862 but the order changes as drivers start to set their lap paces.
Lundgaard sets a fast lap time of 59.544 and heads to the top right as teammate O’Ward gets ahead with 59.232. Lundgaard is unable to take pole due to the grid penalty that was handed to him earlier today. This makes him the third out of four drivers this weekend to earn a grid penalty ahead of Sunday’s race.
Newgarden and Palou are just about a tenth off from each other five minutes into round 2 – the driver of the No. 2 shows good pace but slowly loses it to the Spaniard and teammate Power.
Newgarden experiences a bit of oversteer around the turns 2-3-4 area and goes wide over the back apex. O’Ward puts in a great lap of 58.282 to unseat the time of Palou.
Newgarden finds himself below the line to advance into the Fast Six. Rosenqvist passes the two McLarens of O’Ward and Lundgaard to finish with a time of 58.191. Veteran Dixon will not be advancing – he finished with a time of 58.744
Round 2 Results
- Rosenqvist
- Lundgaard (cannot take pole due to penalty)
- O’Ward
- Palou
- Power
- Malukas
- Rossi
- Armstrong
- Newgarden
- Dixon
- Ericsson
- Simpson
Firestone Fast Six
Track temps are slowly rising just before the drivers head out to compete for pole position. Temps are at 109.2 Fahrenheit.
The drivers have 6 minutes to put in a pole-position worthy lap. Multiple drivers are in the pits as they change their tires. Power stays ahead of the pack with 58.878; he’s looking to set yet another one-lap pace.
Palou is off the track due to a lock up around the turn 10 area and sends out the yellow flag with an incident similar to Shwartzman. He’s able to get the car out but loses the lap.
Lundgaard secures P1 but will be starting six places on Sunday back due to his penalty; teammate O’Ward will be starting from pole position. The grid has been set for Sunday’s race. The drivers have one last practice session out on track
Firestone Fast Six Results
- Lundgaard
- O’Ward (will start the race on pole)
- Rosenqvist
- Power
- Malukas
- Palou
Full Results of Qualifying
- Lundgaard
- O’Ward (will start the race on pole)
- Rosenqvist
- Power
- Malukas
- Palou
- Rossi
- Armstrong
- Newgarden
- Dixon
- Ericsson
- Simpson
- McLaughlin
- DeFrancesco
- Ferrucci
- Herta
- Foster
- Rasmussen
- Siegel
- Kirkwood
- Robb
- Rahal
- Veekay
- Ilott
- Shwartzman
- Daly
