O’Ward takes Detroit IndyCar pole, Grosjean starts third

Pato O’Ward claimed his second IndyCar pole position of the season while Formula 1 convert Romain Grosjean’s impressive rookie season got even better with third place on the grid for the first race of the Detroit double-header.

Arrow McLaren SP driver O’Ward secured pole in the dying moments of the final session with a 1m15.5776s to deny Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi his first pole in two years.

In a departure from IndyCar’s usual street and road course qualifying format, the championship used what it described as an ‘abbreviated knockout format’ in place.

As usual, the drivers are split into two equal groups, and the fastest six from each group progressed to the next stage. However, that next stage, featuring 12 drivers, served as the pole position shootout, creating a ‘Fast 12’ as opposed to the usual pole-deciding ‘Fast 6’ session.

The session lengths were also slashed from 13 to 10 minutes compared to IndyCar’s last visit to Detroit in 2019.

O’Ward was quickest in the final session, 0.0808s faster than Rossi. The duo will line up on the front row as they did in the season-opener at Barber.

It just stuck.

Look at @PatricioOWard making his way around a corner, getting just enough grip to get the pole for today's @DetroitGP race on @NBC. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/3w1wcfUDkj

— IndyCar on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 12, 2021

Dale Coyne Racing’s Grosjean was third-fastest in his first IndyCar qualifying session in Detroit. He was on pole last time he raced an IndyCar one month ago on the Indianapolis road course.

Grosjean’s team-mate Ed Jones claimed his best qualifying result of the year in fourth place.

Two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden was fifth-fastest for Team Penske, ahead of Andretti’s Colton Herta.

Penske driver Will Power, who denied James Hinchcliffe a place in the ‘Fast 12’ by just 0.0348s, found himself in the top 10 in qualifying for the first time since the season-opener.

He struggled to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 and finished in 30th, but he’ll have a good chance to get back on form in race one from seventh on the grid.

It could have been better for Power, though. He was on course to beat O’Ward benchmark before he clipped the wall twice and had to prematurely end his last flying lap.

Completing the top 10 on the grid behind Power will be Ryan Hunter-Reay, Simon Pagenaud and Sebastien Bourdais.

Scott Dixon struggled in the ‘Fast 12’ with a series of mistakes across his flying laps. The defending champion ended up in 11th place, ahead of Rinus VeeKay.

Championship leader Alex Palou’s troubled Detroit weekend got even worse when he struggled to 22nd in the session – the first time this season that he’s failed to qualify inside the top 10.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver has to serve his six-place grid penalty for making an unapproved engine following Indianapolis 500 final practice, meaning he’ll start at the back of the 25-driver field.

It was also a miserable qualifying for past Detroit winner Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, with Takuma Sato 15th, Graham Rahal 19th and Santino Ferrucci 21st.

Dalton Kellett spun at the end of the first qualifying group and ended up as the slowest in the session behind rookie Jimmie Johnson.

IndyCar rookie Scott McLaughlin finished the second group at the bottom of the timesheets, having completed only five laps in practice following a crash.

Qualifying Results