The Road America qualifying session has set the starting grid for the 10th race of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season. Who will roll off in what position tomorrow afternoon?
Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves took the pole position for this weekend’s Kohler Grand Prix IndyCar race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin with a top lap time of 101.3007 seconds (142.649 miles per hour) around the 14-turn, 4.014-mile natural terrain road course.
Castroneves in his Chevrolet car was followed by all three of his Team Penske teammates in Chevrolet cars, with Will Power, Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud finishing 2nd, 3rd and 4th fastest in the session, respectively to complete a Team Penske top 4 sweep. The fastest driver of a Honda-powered car was Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, who was 5th fastest on the speed chart.
More from IndyCar
- IndyCar: Two teams with no drivers confirmed for 2024
- IndyCar: Chip Ganassi Racing news hints Alex Palou announcement
- IndyCar: ‘Addition by subtraction’ could pay off in a big way
- Team Penske should make a bold driver signing for 2024
- IndyCar: 5 teams that still have open seats for 2024
Team Penske in the Chevrolet cars took the top 4 spots in the speed chart, but Honda drivers took eight of the top 12. Not including Team Penske drivers, the highest driver of a Chevrolet car was AJ Foyt Enterprises’ Carlos Munoz, who qualified 13th.
The Honda vs. Chevrolet battle, or really the Honda vs. Team Penske battle, has been the story of the season thus far. Honda has dominated Chevrolet as a whole, but Team Penske has been competitive in Chevrolet cars, and they are really the only team that has been. That has been on display in all three Road America practice sessions thus far this weekend and now qualifying as well.
The series lone full-time rookie, Ed Jones, qualified 11th Dale Coyne Racing Honda. Jones’ teammate Esteban Gutierrez, who is making his third IndyCar appearance in a substitution role for the injured Sebastien Bourdais and first as the full-time replacement, qualified 17th. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Mikhail Aleshin, who was previously stuck in France due to immigration issues, qualified 19th in his Honda. Full qualifying results and a starting grid are located at IndyCar.com.
The final practice session begins at 9:00 AM ET tomorrow, and the race itself starts later tomorrow at 1:15 PM ET and can be seen live on NBCSN starting at 12:30 PM ET.
Next: Road America Fantasy Picks
Who is your pick to win this weekend’s Kohler Grand Prix? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to follow me on Instagram as well as Beyond the Flag on both Instagram and Twitter. Also, don’t forget to follow along with Beyond the Flag for the latest news, opinions, and analysis stemming from a number of different motorsports series. You don’t want to miss any of it.