Herta Leads Honda Sweep Indy Car Qualifying In Monterey
MONTEREY, Calif., Sept. 21, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- NTT IndyCar Series rookie standout Colton Herta edged five-time series champion Scott Dixon to claim the pole today for Sunday's season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. In an exciting final round of knockout qualifying, Herta's last lap time of 1:10.1405 bettered Dixon's best effort by just over four one-hundredths of a second. Today's run is the third pole of the season for Herta, and the eighth of the 2019 season for Honda.
Dixon will start on the outside of the front row, second, as the Chip Ganassi Racing driver maintains an outside shot at claiming his sixth series championship in tomorrow's 90-lap contest. Primary championship contenders Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden will start third and fourth, respectively. Advancing to the "Fast Six" final qualifying round for the third time this season, James Hinchcliffe qualified fifth in his Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda; while the fourth and final championship contender, Simon Pagenaud, will start sixth.
Heading into tomorrow's season finale, Honda holds a 34-point advantage over Chevrolet in the battle for the 2019 Manufacturers' Championship (1351-1317). In the Drivers' Championship fight, Rossi trails Newgarden by 41 points (593-552). Pagenaud lies third with 551 points, while Dixon rounds out the title hopefuls with 508 points. This weekend's season-finale race is a "double-points" event, with 100 points awarded for a race win rather than the usual 50.
Television coverage of the final round of the 2019 season begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT Sunday on NBC.
Colton Herta (Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda) Pole qualifier, third pole of 2019 in his rookie IndyCar Series season: "This team has been great all weekend, and the car is phenomenal. We've had such good pace. It seems like we've made some real gains in recent weeks, both on the team side and my side. At the start of the year, I was hoping to be in this position by the end of the season - fighting for top six starting positions. Once you know you can do it [qualify on the pole] it kind of relieves a lot of the stress. You know you can make the fast six [final qualifying] and will be really disappointed if you don't. I'm really looking forward to the start of the race tomorrow from the best seat in the house!"
NTT IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey
Circuit: WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (2.238-mile road course) Monterey, Calif.
Weather: Sunny, warm, 86 degrees F
Top-12, Honda Qualifying Results: Ps. Driver Team Manufacturer Best Time Notes --- --- 1. Colton Herta-R Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda 1:10.1405 114.867 mph average 2. Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 1:10.1831 +0.0426 seconds 3. Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda 1:10.2105 Fast Six Final Qualifying 4. Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 1:10.6719 Fast Six Final Qualifying 5. James Hinchcliffe Arrow Schmidt Peterson Honda 1:10.8003 Fast Six Final Qualifying 6. Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Chevrolet 1:10.8616 Fast Six Final Qualifying 7. Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 1:10.6086 2nd Round Qualifying 8. Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda 1:10.6296 2nd Round Qualifying 9. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 1:10.6919 2nd Round Qualifying 10. Max Chilton Carlin Racing Chevrolet 1:10.7257 2nd Round Qualifying 11. Marcus Ericsson Arrow Schmidt Peterson Honda 1:11.1666 2nd Round Qualifying 12. Santino Ferrucci-R Dale Coyne Racing Honda 1:12.4137 2nd Round Qualifying Other Honda Results --- 13. Conor Daly Andretti Autosport Honda 1:10.7787 1st Round, Group 1 14. Felix Rosenqvist-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 1:10.5649 1st Round, Group 2 16. Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda 1:10.8393 1st Round, Group 2 17. Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Honda 1:10.8407 1st Round, Group 1 19. Sebastien Bourdais DCR with Vasser-Sullivan Honda 1:11.0095 1st Round, Group 1 22. Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda 1:11.0527 1st Round, Group 2 24. Jack Havey Meyer Shank Racing Honda 1:11.2710 1st Round, Group 2
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SOURCE Honda Racing/HPD