Alexander Rossi laid down the first marker in the third segment of qualifying with 66.0, his closest opponent being Josef Newgarden and Felix Rosenqvist after their first runs.
Alex Palou then delivered a 65.8667sec lap to go top, before then Herta slammed in a 65.3095 to claim the qualifying track record by nine-tenths of a second, with Grosjean 0.1960sec behind him.
Attempting to usurp his teammate, Grosjean grazed a wall with his left-rear on the run to Turn 5, breaking a toelink which sent him crabbing hard into the tire wall on the outside of the corner.
That cost him his best time, dropping him to sixth, and promoting Newgarden to the front row ahead of Palou.
With two seconds of guaranteed time remaining, IndyCar’s rule allowing cars one final flyer kicked in. Only Rosenqvist and Rossi took the option, but both failed to improve – Rossi slid into the Turn 1 run-off, and Rosenqvist was unable to edge ahead of anyone, leaving him to start in fourth.
In Q2, Palou was somewhat of an outlier by going straight onto used reds from the start of the session but his first effort left him only eighth fastest. Herta was fastest on the primaries on 65.9478sec, ahead of Scott McLaughlin, Simon Pagenaud, Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson.
First flyers on fresh reds came from Newgarden and Will Power, springing into the top two spots with 65.8s. Then Rosenqvist and Herta deposed both of them, and Herta kept improving delivering a 65.4057, and his closest challenger was teammate Rossi.
Rosenqvist, Palou, Newgarden and Grosjean also got through, but Power – only 0.0001sec behind Grosjean – called in the fact that got backed up following Pato O’Ward at the hairpin, but believing O’Ward had also been backed up.
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
A surprise elimination in Q2 was Meyer Shank Racing’s Pagenaud who had looked so quick in practice and Q1, as he had unfortunately encountered McLaughlin, who himself had been stymied by Ericsson’s Ganassi, which he let past on an out lap, but who then slowed up.
Grosjean was the fastest driver on primaries in Group 2 during the first segment of qualifying, with a 65.9796, and that time withstood several aces’ first efforts on reds, but the exception was Pagenaud, who edged past with a 65.8908sec lap. Then Grosjean nudged past with a 65.7468sec.
Behind these two, Power and Newgarden sent their Team Penske-Chevrolets into Q2, just ahead of Palou’s Ganassi car and O’Ward in the Arrow McLaren SP.
Those eliminated at this stage included the second Meyer Shank Racing entry of Helio Castroneves, who started third here last year, and six-time champion Scott Dixon.
Herta set a 66.6653sec on primaries in Group 1, but this became irrelevant when McLaughlin delivered a 66.1076sec, and then both Herta and teammate Rossi ducked under the 66sec mark, Herta produced a 65.7283sec.
Rosenqvist then delivered a 66.1 to grab third in the Arrow McLaren SP ahead of McLaughlin, while Kyle Kirkwood excelled with fifth fastest in group in the AJ Foyt Racing car.
Graham Rahal looked like he was going to graduate until Marcus Ericsson squeezed him out with his last run in the #8 Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda. Rahal had also been maddened by Jimmie Johnson emerging from pitlane into his path during a flying lap, and Johnson’s interference cost him his best laps.
Rinus VeeKay was a surprise elimination at this stage, while rookie David Malukas did a fine job in the Dale Coyne Racing with HMD-Honda to outqualify his teammate, 2013 Long Beach winner Takuma Sato.
Results:
Q3
Q2
Q1 Group 2
Q1 Group 1
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