IndyCar: Colton Herta takes pole for 2019 Grand Prix of Portland

Colton Herta took the pole position at Portland International Raceway for the 2019 IndyCar season’s penultimate race, the Grand Prix of Portland.

Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta took his second career IndyCar pole position for the penultimate race of the 17-race 2019 season, the Grand Prix of Portland, at Portland International Raceway.

Herta, who topped the speed chart in two of the three practice sessions for this race, took the pole position for this 105-lap race around the 12-turn, 1.967-mile (3.166-kilometer) Portland International Raceway natural terrain road course in Portland, Oregon by recording a top lap time of 57.8111 seconds (122.4886 miles per hour) in the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session for this race in his #88 Honda.

Herta beat Team Penske’s Will Power to the pole position by just 0.0192 seconds (0.0407 miles per hour). Power qualified in second place in his #12 Chevrolet with a top lap time of 57.8303 seconds (122.4479 miles per hour).

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Honda drivers took each of the remaining seven positions in the top nine. Ed Carpenter Racing’s Spencer Pigot was the only Chevrolet driver aside of Power who qualified in the top 10, and he qualified in 10th place in his #21 Chevrolet.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, Meyer Shank Racing with Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ Jack Harvey, Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist and Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay were the four drivers aside of Herta and Power who advanced to the Firestone Fast Six. They qualified in third, fourth, fifth and sixth place in their #9 Honda, #60 Honda, #10 Honda and #28 Honda, respectively.

Dixon’s top lap time of 57.8355 seconds (122.4369 miles per hour) was only 0.0244 seconds (0.0517 miles per hour) slower than Herta’s.

Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammates James Hinchcliffe and Conor Daly rounded out the top nine by qualifying in seventh, eighth and ninth place in their #27 Honda, #5 Honda and #7 Honda, respectively.

The slowest two drivers who advanced to the second round of qualifying for this race were Andretti Autosport’s Zach Veach and Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan’s Sebastien Bourdais. They qualified in 11th and 12th place in their #26 Honda and #18 Honda, respectively.

As for the two Team Penske championship contenders, it was a qualifying session to forget. Josef Newgarden, the leader of the championship standings, qualified in 13th place in his #2 Chevrolet, and Simon Pagenaud, who trails only Newgarden in the standings, qualified in 18th in his #22 Chevrolet.

Here are the full qualifying results for the 2019 Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway.

Qualifying Results
1st – Colton Herta
2nd – Will Power
3rd – Scott Dixon
4th – Jack Harvey
5th – Felix Rosenqvist
6th – Ryan Hunter-Reay
7th – Alexander Rossi
8th – James Hinchcliffe
9th – Conor Daly
10th – Spencer Pigot
11th – Zach Veach
12th – Sebastien Bourdais
13th – Josef Newgarden
14th – Santino Ferrucci
15th – Graham Rahal
16th – Marco Andretti
17th – Takuma Sato
18th – Simon Pagenaud
19th – Tony Kanaan
20th – Max Chilton
21st – Matheus Leist
22nd – Charlie Kimball
23rd – Ed Jones

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Be sure not to miss NBC’s live broadcast of the 2019 IndyCar season’s penultimate race from Portland International Raceway tomorrow afternoon beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET. The Grand Prix of Portland itself is scheduled to go green shortly thereafter at 3:35 p.m. ET.