Graham Rahal claimed his second consecutive IndyCar road course pole position this afternoon at Portland International Raceway. The RLL driver will start ahead of championship contenders Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, who will start tomorrow’s race fourth and fifth respectively.
Rahal’s run to pole position is the latest in a surge of strong performances on road and street courses for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing – though, incredibly, Rahal was the only driver in the team that advanced to the second round of qualifying. He made the most of that chance, however, and took pole position with a time of 58.320 seconds around the short, twisting Portland circuit.It will give him another opportunity to end a winless drought which dates back to the 2017 Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle.
Rahal shares the front row with Scott McLaughlin, who led both his first-round group session and the second round, but fell short of pole by just 33 milliseconds. Colton Herta will start third in his pursuit of his first win of 2023.
0.069 seconds were all that separated Dixon from Ganassi team mate Palou in the Fast Six session. Dixon will start on the outside of the second row, with Palou on the inside of the third.
Palou can clinch his second IndyCar championship tomorrow if he leaves Portland with a 54-point lead in the standings over Dixon. But since all drivers receive five points just for starting a race, the Spanish driver effectively needs a 49-point gap to Dixon, in order to be crowned champion simply by starting his engine next week at Laguna Seca.
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Pato O’Ward will start sixth for McLaren, followed by outgoing series champion Will Power in seventh. Callum Ilott got his best grid position of the year in eighth, with Alexander Rossi and Marcus Ericsson rounding out the top ten.
Josef Newgarden and Felix Rosenqvist had their own woes which prevented them from advancing to the second round. Rosenqvist, meanwhile, had something break on his car just as he was preparing to make his final time attack, and will start 11th.
Newgarden’s exit was more dramatic: He ran wide through the final corner and crashed head-on into a tyre barrier. The Penske driver, who was eliminated from championship contention last week, starts 12th after failing to set a time in the second round.
Further back, a livid Romain Grosjean cited traffic as the reason for his first-round exit. He will start 15th for what could be his penultimate IndyCar race, as news broke over the weekend that he will not return to Andretti Autosport next season.
Rahal’s team mates, Christian Lundgaard and newcomer Juri Vips, could only manage places on the ninth row of the grid. Meanwhile Tom Blomqvist languished down in 27th and last in his first IndyCar appearance since Toronto.
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Grand Prix of Portland qualifying results
| Position | Car | Driver | Team | Engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 | Graham Rahal | RLL | Honda |
| 2 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Penske | Chevrolet |
| 3 | 26 | Colton Herta | Andretti | Honda |
| 4 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Ganassi | Honda |
| 5 | 10 | Alex Palou | Ganassi | Honda |
| 6 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 7 | 12 | Will Power | Penske | Chevrolet |
| 8 | 77 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger | Chevrolet |
| 9 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 10 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Ganassi | Honda |
| 11 | 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | McLaren | Chevrolet |
| 12 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Penske | Chevrolet |
| 13 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Carpenter | Chevrolet |
| 14 | 11 | Marcus Armstrong | Ganassi | Honda |
| 15 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti | Honda |
| 16 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti | Honda |
| 17 | 45 | Christian Lundgaard | RLL | Honda |
| 18 | 30 | Juri Vips | RLL | Honda |
| 19 | 78 | Agustin Canapino | Juncos Hollinger | Chevrolet |
| 20 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti | Honda |
| 21 | 06 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank | Honda |
| 22 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | Foyt | Chevrolet |
| 23 | 18 | David Malukas | Coyne/HMD | Honda |
| 24 | 51 | Sting Ray Robb | Coyne/RWR | Honda |
| 25 | 20 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Carpenter | Chevrolet |
| 26 | 55 | Benjamin Pedersen | Foyt | Chevrolet |
| 27 | 60 | Tom Blomqvist | Meyer Shank | Honda |
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IndyCar
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- “No doubt” Herta is quick enough for Formula 1 – Ericsson
- Andretti confirms he’s stepping down in charge of racing team
- Ilott gets first seat in Prema’s new IndyCar team
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