Yahoo Autos Herta, McLaughlin split Iowa poles with new track record
The NTT IndyCar Series’ unique oval doubleheader qualifying procedure where a driver’s first lap sets their position for race one and the second lap secures their place for race two saw Colton Herta earn his first oval pole and Scott McLaughlin record a new track record.
Herta will start first for race one and fourth for race two in the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda (187.655mph/186.980mph) after being one of a few drivers to experience issues with their energy recovery system.
“It’s awesome,” Herta said. “Got the monkey off my back. A little bit of a bizarre one.”
Herta, along with Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi, and Dale Coyne Racing’s Jack Harvey, dealt with an absence of the 60hp punch from the ERS to assist their laps speeds. In the case of Herta and Harvey, the series gave them opportunities to requalify, which both teams accepted. In Herta’s case, he returned to the car, strapped in, and was pushed to the head of pit lane while asking the Andretti team, “We seem pretty good here. Are we smart to do it?”
His question was answered moments later when the car was pulled from the line and his P1 and P4 starting positions were preserved.
McLaughlin was second behind Herta for race one in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevy and has pole for race two (187.526mph/188.248mph).
“Can’t be unhappy with two front rows,” he said before addressing whether his second lap, which was a rare and faster speed than the first, was a byproduct of luck or working on his handling tools.
“I think a little bit of both. I think the car has been really strong since we started testing here, even on the other compound, doing it actually later in the run, that’s been how it has been in the race as well. So hopefully that bodes well for us.”
After Herta and McLaughlin in qualifying for race one, which takes place Saturday night, it was championship leader Alex Palou from Chip Ganassi Racing, Penske’s Will Power, Ganassi’s Scott Dixon, and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward completing the top six.
In race two, McLaughlin has Palou, Dixon, Herta, Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist, and Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi as the five behind him (full positions and speeds in the results PDFs below).
Marcus Ericsson, who destroyed most of the rear of his No. 28 Andretti Global Honda in practice on Friday, got his first laps in the repaired car during qualifying and put in a stellar performance on his first lap and then fought oversteer on the second (race two P10/race two P22).
The greatest surprise in qualifying was an off-form Josef Newgarden, whose No. 2 Chevy lacked pace for the Iowa master (P22/P14).
Wiggles were visible in some of the qualifying attempts, and the first to make contact was Marcus Armstrong, who clipped the wall exiting Turn 2 with the right-rear wheel. His lap one speed was enough, at that time, to lead qualifying for race one, but the contact on lap two left him 12th at the halfway point in the session. He’d hold onto earn a career-best P9 for race one.
Will Power also glanced off of the Turn 2 exit wall with his right-front tire on his second lap, but the hit was much lighter than Armstrong’s.
Jack Harvey was the first driver out to qualify and fought through technical problems and immense pain during the run. IndyCar took a moment after his outing in the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda to reset its track-wide network after realizing Harvey’s energy recovery system was not triggered to function when he left pit line and drove over the pit-exit timing loop.
With a non-functioning ERS limiting his overall speed and leaving him last on the developing grid, the series raised its hand for being the cause of the issue and gave him a second chance to qualify, which offered an improvement. A second instance of ERS issues on the make-up run led to IndyCar giving Harvey, who was wracked with pain, to give it a third try where he’d out-qualify Newgarden, Ed Carpenter, and other oval stars (P19/P18). The Coyne team has former driver Conor Daly on standby if Harvey’s unable to compete due to the ongoing back and neck pain he endured in Mid-Ohio.
UP NEXT: Race one, 8 p.m. ET, NBC
