DETROIT — Colton Herta will lead the field to green on Sunday after taking pole position.
The driver of the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda won the pole for the Detroit Grand Prix with a lap of 1:00.477.
“I was worried about that because I was like, ‘Oh, man,’ after Friday,” he said. “I was hoping nobody broke the track record because I had it, and I’ve still got it.
“No, I was happy with it. Friday was pretty bad from us as far as what we’re used to on street courses, just the feel of the race car. So it kind of — Friday night to go over everything and turn everything around. The engineering group did a great job with that, and we saw this morning’s session felt a lot more comfortable and felt a lot more comfortable on the reds, also, or soft greens.
“Yeah, happy with how it went.”
It’s his 15th career pole and first of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR Series season.
David Malukas and Kyle Kirkwood round out the podium. Christian Lundgaard, Graham Rahal and championship leader Alex Palou round out the Firestone Fast Six.
“Yeah, I felt really good,” Malukas said. “We were actually ChatGPTing on the way here: Is that my best qualifying? Maybe on an oval, but I think for a street and road course, I think that’s the best qualifying.
“Yeah, I mean, everything just clicked. Like I said after practice, we were very comfortable with the car, very happy, and yeah, it’s kind of chaos with the practice sessions figuring out who’s fast, who isn’t, where we are, because you’re getting one lap after every 20, 30 minutes of a clean lap, so it’s all kind of just a guessing game.
“We kept our heads down and just committed. I thought we had a good car, and clearly it went out and showed that.”
Qualifying summary
Firestone Fast Six
Palou posted a banker lap of 1:04.167. Rahal posted a fast lap of 1:02.472. Malukas usurped him with a lap of 1:01.688. He bested his fast lap with a time of 1:00.649.
Herta posted the fastest lap with a time of 1:00.477.
Round 2
Scott McLaughlin opened the second round with a banker lap of 1:06.264. Palou clocked in a fast lap of 1:01.798. Herta topped him with a lap of 1:01.028.
In the final 90 seconds of the round, Malukas clocked in at 1:00.832. Will Power usurped him by two one-thousands of a second. McLaughlin overtook his teammate with a lap of 1:00.759. Herta posted the fastest lap of the round at 1:00.456.
Along with him, Kirkwood, Malukas, Lundgaard, Palou and Rahal advanced to the Firestone Fast Six.
Round 1
Group 1
Palou kicked off qualifying on Firestone greens with a time of 1:06.619. He bested that with a lap of 1:02.460, and a lap of 1:01.611. Lundgaard, on Firestone greens, usurped him on the top spot with a lap of 1:01.597. Marcus Ericsson, on Firestone greens, topped the chart with a lap of 1:01.381. Then McLaughlin overtook him with a lap of 1:91.346. Power posted a sub 1:01 lap with a time of 1:00.982.
Along with Power, Palou, Lundgaard, McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong and Rinus VeeKay advanced to the second round.
Group 2
Alexander Rossi posted a banker lap of 1:06.145 to kick off Group 2. Pato O’Ward, on Firestone blacks, overtook him with a lap of 1:05.350. Christian Rasmussen usurped him with a lap of 1:02.916. Followed by Louis Foster on a 1:02.001 lap. Rasmussen clocked the first sub 1:02 lap of the group with a 1:01.244 lap. Malukas overtook him with a lap of 1:01.071.
Herta posted the fastest lap with a time of 1:00.687. Rahal, Malukas, Rasmussen, Kirkwood and Scott Dixon joined him in advancing to Round 2.
During the session, Josef Newgarden brushed the wall and broke a toe link.
