Takuma Sato took his first pole position since the 2017 IndyCar season for the 2019 season’s third race, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, at Barber Motorsports Park.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammates Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal locked out the front row for the third of 17 races on the 2019 IndyCar schedule, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, at Barber Motorsports Park, with Sato taking his first pole position since the 2017 season in his #30 Honda and Rahal qualifying in second place in his #15 Honda.
Sato took the pole position for the 90-lap race around the 17-turn, 2.38-mile (3.830-kilometer) Barber Motorsports Park natural terrain road course in Birmingham, Alabama by recording a top lap time of 68.5934 seconds (124.910 miles per hour) in the Firestone Fast Six, the third and final round of qualifying for the race, in his #30 Honda.
Sato finished the Firestone Fast Six, which did not feature any Team Penske or Andretti Autosport drivers, just 0.1037 seconds (0.189 miles per hour) ahead of Rahal, who recorded a top lap time of 68.6971 seconds (124.731 miles per hour) in this round.
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The last race that Sato started from the pole position was the race at Pocono Raceway in August of 2017, and he did not end up leading any of that race’s 200 laps around the three-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) triangle in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. His pole position for tomorrow’s race at Barber Motorsports Park is the eighth pole position of his IndyCar career.
Honda drivers swept the top five starting positions on the starting grid for tomorrow’s race, as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe and Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais qualified in third, fourth and fifth place in their #9 Honda, #5 Honda and #18 Honda, respectively.
Ed Carpenter Racing’s Spencer Pigot was the only Chevrolet driver who advanced to the Firestone Fast Six. He qualified in sixth place in his #21 Chevrolet. Team Penske’s Will Power was the only other Chevrolet driver who qualified in the top 13. He qualified in seventh in his #12 Chevrolet.
Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi, Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta and Dale Coyne Racing rookie Santino Ferrucci are set to round out the top 10 on the starting grid after qualifying in eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #27 Honda, #88 Honda and #19 Honda, respectively.
The slowest two of the drivers who advanced to the second round of qualifying for this race, Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay and Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey, qualified in 11th and 12th place in their #28 Honda and #60 Honda, respectively.
While he did not advance to the second round of qualifying for this race, Andretti Herta Autosport’s Marco Andretti qualified in 13th in his #98 Honda to give Honda drivers 11 of the top 13 positions on the starting grid.
Here are the full qualifying results for the 2019 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park.
Qualifying Results
1st – Takuma Sato
2nd – Graham Rahal
3rd – Scott Dixon
4th – James Hinchcliffe
5th – Sebastien Bourdais
6th – Spencer Pigot
7th – Will Power
8th – Alexander Rossi
9th – Colton Herta
10th – Santino Ferrucci
11th – Ryan Hunter-Reay
12th – Jack Harvey
13th – Marco Andretti
14th – Simon Pagenaud
15th – Matheus Leist
16th – Josef Newgarden
17th – Felix Rosenqvist
18th – Patricio O’Ward
19th – Tony Kanaan
20th – Marcus Ericsson
21st – Ed Jones
22nd – Max Chilton
23rd – Zach Veach
24th – Ben Hanley
The live broadcast of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is set to air on NBC Sports Network from Barber Motorsports Park beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET tomorrow, so be sure not to miss the 2019 IndyCar season’s third race.