After finishing seventh in both free practice sessions at Long Beach, the clear goal for Alex Palou was to sneak into the final qualifying session, the Fast 6. The reigning champion has not only more than met that goal, but has been able to overtake slightly faster cars in one lap, and has qualified in a great third position for tomorrow’s race. Of course, the pole had a single owner and lord, a Colton Herta who will appear from now on as the new ‘record man’ of the historic Californian urban layout.
The Andretti Autosport driver was the fastest in all three qualifying roundstouching in the first group the record set by Romain Grosjean in Free Practice 2 and surpassing it in Fast 12. When it seemed that finding more time would be almost impossible by having to use used softs, the current winner of the test surpassed himself with a spectacular 1:05.309a time nine tenths faster than the official classification record in force until today, the 1:06.225 of Hélio Castroneves in 2017.
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With this, Herta achieved the eighth pole position of his career (all on circuit), although not without a bit of final drama. Romain Grosjean He had been his fastest pursuer at two tenths and had been improving that same margin on his last lap until made a mistake at the entrance of turn 5 that led to the protections, losing his times as a result of the red flag that came out. Her position in the front row became sixth, and her ‘vacancy’ was filled by Joseph Newgardenfrom less to more this weekend with its usual solvency.
Despite the fact that there were only two seconds left on the clock, the IndyCar stewards interpreted that the regulations (‘six minutes of green flag guaranteed’) gave them the option of offer one more timed lap to whoever wanted. The difficulty of putting the used soft ones in temperature meant that only Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi went out to try their luck, but the first did not improve and the second, who aspired to the front row and had seen his last attempt damaged by Grosjean’s red, came out on his lap. With this, none managed to reach the third position of a solid Álex Palou, who had already shone with the fourth fastest time of the Fast 12 and significantly improved its performance.
In the Fast 12 three potential final round contenders fell as Will Power (7th), the leader of the general Scott McLaughlin (9th) and Simon Pagenaud (10th). Although there were no penalties, several pilots complained bitterly of being object of blockages or impediments during it, including Power with Grosjean (who beat him by the incredible difference of one ten thousandth) and Pagenaud with the already eliminated Duck O’Wardeleventh. Marcus Ericson continued his good work of the weekend in eighth position, and Kyle Kirkwood He reached the Fast 12 again ahead of all the drivers of wealthier teams such as Rahal, Carpenter or Coyne.
The most illustrious victims of the first round in terms of the pace shown during these two days were Helio Castroneveswhich will start 14th tomorrow, and a Scott Dixon who did not have his day, occupying position 16 on the grid. Devlin DeFrancesco, whose three Andretti teammates were fighting for pole, managed to get some head start by being the second-best of the rookies, but his 17th position will become 23rd due to the sanction of six positions for the incidents that he starred in the Texas race.
At the bottom of the grill Tatiana Calderon continued to cut ground with respect to the lower zone (three tenths with respect to Takuma Sato and seven with respect to the penultimate of his session), and Jimmie Johnson He managed to overcome his free practice crashes and his broken hand to complete the session without much trouble, although without posting his best time of the weekend. Both the Colombian and the seven-time NASCAR champion will occupy the last row in a career where circumstances offer opportunities, whether they are many or few, and where endurance has even more reward than pure speed. Unless you’re a certain kid from the Californian city of Valencia, of course.
2022 LONG BEACH INDYCAR GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING
The race will be broadcast on Sunday from 9:35 p.m. (Spanish time) on Movistar Deportes 2.
Photos: IndyCar Media