Marco Andretti will start on pole position for the first of two Verizon IndyCar Series races this weekend at the Belle Isle street circuit in Detroit. The American was almost half a second faster than his nearest challenger, with the result being his first pole position in nearly five years.
For the 2018 Chevrolet Duel in Detroit, a slightly different qualifying format is used for both of the weekend’s races. Instead of the usual format, the field would be split into two groups. After the two groups have run on the track, the group with the faster drivers will start in the odd-numbered grid spots – including the valuable pole position for the fastest driver – with the second group taking up the even-numbered positions.
Today, it was group two that was the fastest, courtesy of Marco Andretti in his #98 Honda. The Andretti Herta driver set a best lap time of 1:14.8514 to take the pole and to award the remaining drivers in his group with the odd-numbered positions.
It has been nearly five years since the 2013 Milwaukee IndyFest, where Marco last started on pole position. Unbelievably, it is also the first time that Marco will start on pole position for a Verizon IndyCar Series race that is not being held on an oval.
“I’m definitely embarrassed to say that this is my first [road/street pole], but I’ve been outside pole so many times on road and street courses,” Andretti said after qualifying. “Extremely pleased to execute today. I think yesterday I knew we had the speed … so I knew we had it in the car. All I had to do was execute, and I was able to do that instead of just talking, ‘Oh we would have been first.’ Now we are.”
The fastest driver in group one was Chip Ganassi Racing‘s Scott Dixon. The New Zealander has finished second in every session of the weekend so far, having also finished there in yesterday’s two practice sessions. He will be hoping to improve just one position in the race later today so that he can take his first win of the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series.
Starting in third place will be Robert Wickens for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. The Canadian rookie actually set the second fastest time of qualifying, but due to the qualifying format, he will not start on the front-row. Fourth place went to title contender Alexander Rossi, with his team-mate Ryan Hunter-Reay just behind in fifth ahead of last weekend’s Indianapolis 500 winner, Will Power, in sixth.
After a disappointing month of May, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will be hoping to kick off June with a strong result later today. Takuma Sato will start just ahead of team-mate Graham Rahal, with the pair having qualified seventh and eighth. SPM’s James Hinchcliffe will also be hoping for a strong race. He will start ninth on his return to the race-track after failing to qualify for the Indy 500.
Rounding out the top ten will be Carlin‘s Max Chilton. The British driver gave the British team the best qualifying result of their Verizon IndyCar Series career so far, with Max impressively taking tenth place ahead of the likes of former champions Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden; who will start thirteenth and fourteenth respectively for Team Penske.
Despite showing promising form in practice one yesterday, Dale Coyne Racing‘s pair of drivers will start further down the order than they would have hoped. Former Detroit winner, Sebastien Bourdais, qualified in seventeenth, with team-mate Santino Ferrucci making his Verizon IndyCar Series race debut starting from eighteenth place.
Race one of the 2018 Duel in Detroit takes place later today, with race two and its qualifying session being run tomorrow.
Credit: James Black / Courtesy of IndyCar
2018 Verizon IndyCar Series – Duel in Detroit – Race one qualifying results:
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