Marcus Armstrong will start from third in Monday morning’s IndyCar Grand Prix of Road America following a dramatic qualifying session in mixed conditions in Wisconsin.
The Kiwi’s Fast Six time of 1:45.6592 was half a second off the pole-setting time of his Chip Ganassi Racing rookie teammate Linus Lundqvist.
Scott McLaughlin qualified eighth for the race, while Scott Dixon was tenth.
Armstrong was the sole Kiwi to qualify out of Group 1, and he progressed to the top 12 with a third-fastest 2:01.3910 in wet conditions. Alexander Rossi led the group ahead of Pato O’Ward. Josef Newgarden, Will Power and rookie Kyffin Simpson also progressed.
Colton Herta was fastest in Group 2 from Alex Palou, McLaughlin, Kyle Kirkwood, Dixon and Lundqvist, respectively.
A stall for Helio Castroneves at Turn 5 brought out a brief red flag with three minutes remaining.
Armstrong led the Top 12 round with a 2:00.3687 until the final minute when Colton Herta set a 1:59.2088-flyer.
Kirkwood would also better the Kiwi’s time, and Armstrong responded with a 1:59.5949, which kept him third.
Power was fourth, ahead of Lundqvist, whose late lap dropped his reigning champion teammate Palou out of the top six. Newgarden also progressed to Round 2 in sixth, three-tenths to the good of Palou.
McLaughlin’s best effort of 2:00.8840 was good enough for eighth, while Dixon’s 2:01.2671 placed him tenth, behind Rossi and ahead of O’Ward and Simpson, respectively.
Conditions improved ahead of the Fast Six shootout, and Herta was the first to switch from wet tyres to alternates, setting the benchmark at 1:57.2604.
Newgarden was the only other driver to set a time before the red flag came out with six minutes remaining when Power spun and stalled at Turn 12.
On resumption, Armstrong shot to the top with a 1:47.9501 on a rapidly drying track, only for Herta to respond and go three-tenths quicker.
Kirkwood and Lundqvist also emerged towards the top of the time sheets, with the Swedish rookie leading the way when the session abruptly ended when Newgarden spun and hit the barriers at The Kink.
The session would not resume, handing Lundqvist a surprise first-career pole from Herta, Armstrong and Kirkwood.
The IndyCar Grand Prix of Road America begins at 7.30 am on Monday NZST and will be shown live on Sky Sport.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment: James Black
