Rossi grabs first pole position for three years at Road America

Alexander Rossi has taken pole position for the Grand Prix of Road America, putting himself at the front of the field for the first time in three years.

The Andretti Autosport fleet demonstrated speed throughout qualifying, as Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta the second. But in the crucial battle for pole position on a damp and greasy Road America circuit, Rossi was quickest when it mattered most.

Using a fresh set of the harder primary tyres, Rossi set a 1’44.926 on his first flying lap, then improved to a 1’44.866 on his second. That secured his first pole since race one of the 2019 Detroit Grand Prix

The soon-to-be McLaren SP driver will share the front row in Sunday’s race with Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who set his time of 1’44.937 on a used set of alternate tyres. Chip Ganassi Racing duo Álex Palou and Marcus Ericsson qualified third and fourth, respectively. Herta qualified in fifth, ahead of Pato O’Ward, in sixth.

A frustrated Grosjean narrowly missed out on a place in the Fast Six, his second-round qualifying run was compromised due to a gear selection problem early. He qualified in seventh, ahead of Felix Rosenqvist in eighth. Another all-Scott row materialized in row five – McLaughlin in ninth, Dixon 10th – followed by Simon Pagenaud in 11th.

Callum Ilott, returning after a hand injury sustained in the Indianapolis 500, was the only rookie to advance to the second round of qualifying. In the second round, he went off at the final corner and crashed lightly into the tyre barriers, which brought out a red flag and an end to his session. Ilott emerged unscathed with no further injuries.

Further back in the field, IndyCar Series points leader Will Power missed out on advancing out of his group into round two. He qualified 15th – just one position better than where he won from in Detroit a week ago.

Meanwhile, Tatiana Calderón will line up 25th, and the returning Simona de Silvestro driving for Ed Carpenter Racing-supported Paretta Autosport will start 27th. It will mark the first time that two women will take the green flag for an IndyCar race since 2015.

In another testament to the close competition in IndyCar, Rossi became the eighth different pole-winner in eight races this season – the longest streak of different pole winners to open the season since 1961.

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Grand Prix of Road America qualifying results

Position	Car	Driver	Team	Engine
1	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti	Honda
2	2	Josef Newgarden	Penske	Chevrolet
3	10	Alex Palou	Ganassi	Honda
4	8	Marcus Ericsson	Ganassi	Honda
5	26	Colton Herta	Andretti	Honda
6	5	Pato O’Ward	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
7	28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti	Honda
8	7	Felix Rosenqvist	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
9	3	Scott McLaughlin	Penske	Chevrolet
10	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi	Honda
11	60	Simon Pagenaud	Meyer Shank	Honda
12	77	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
13	30	Christian Lundgaard	RLL	Honda
14	18	David Malukas	Coyne/HMD	Honda
15	12	Will Power	Penske	Chevrolet
16	6	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank	Honda
17	21	Rinus VeeKay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
18	20	Conor Daly	Carpenter	Chevrolet
19	51	Takuma Sato	Coyne/RWR	Honda
20	45	Jack Harvey	RLL	Honda
21	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner	Honda
22	15	Graham Rahal	RLL	Honda
23	4	Dalton Kellett	Foyt	Chevrolet
24	14	Kyle Kirkwood	Foyt	Chevrolet
25	11	Tatiana Calderon	Foyt	Chevrolet
26	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ganassi	Honda
27	16	Simona de Silvestro	Paretta	Chevrolet

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