IndyCar: Mid-Ohio starting lineup - Colton Herta takes pole

Colton Herta took his first pole position of the 2020 IndyCar season for the second race of the Honda Indy 200 doubleheader at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

In a wet qualifying session, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport’s Colton Herta took his first pole position of the 2020 IndyCar season for the second race of the Honda Indy 200 doubleheader at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Herta took the pole position for this 75-lap race around the 13-turn, 2.258-mile (3.634-kilometer) natural terrain road course in Lexington, Ohio by recording a top lap time of 86.2788 seconds (94.2155 miles per hour) in the second of two groups in the qualifying session behind the wheel of his #88 Honda.

Under the qualifying format of this doubleheader weekend, one qualifying group set the odd positions and the other set the even positions of the starting lineup for the opening races. All odd positions going to the drivers in the group with the fastest overall driver, while all even positions go to the drivers in the other group.

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While Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan’s Santino Ferrucci posted the fifth fastest overall speed of the qualifying session, he led the first group and therefore qualified on the front row in second place behind the wheel of his #18 Honda. Both Herta and Ferrucci scored bonus points for topping the speed charts in their respective qualifying sessions.

Honda dominated the qualifying session, sweeping the top five on the starting grid. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon, a six-time winner at the track, qualified in third place behind the wheel of his #9 Honda ahead of Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh rookie Alex Palou in fourth behind the wheel of his #55 Honda and teammate Felix Rosenqvist behind the wheel of his #10 Honda.

Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud was the highest qualifying Chevrolet driver in sixth place behind the wheel of his #22 Chevrolet, although teammate Josef Newgarden was the fastest Chevrolet driver in the session. Newgarden qualified in ninth behind the wheel of his #1 Chevrolet.

In the second group of qualifying, Andretti Herta Autosport’s Marco Andretti went all-out on slick tires to qualify in seventh place.

Had he had another lap to put heat into his tires, he likely would have had a shot at the pole position, given the fact that the track conditions in the second qualifying group were better than the first and the fact that he ranked fourth in that group — and overall — already.

Andretti Autosport teammates Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi qualified in eighth and 10th place behind the wheels of their #28 Honda and #27 Honda, respectively.

This qualifying session was littered with issues due to the wet conditions, including spins from yesterday’s winner Will Power of Team Penske, Andretti Autosport’s Zach Veach, Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey, Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward and A.J. Foyt Enterprises’ Charlie Kimball.

Here is the full starting lineup for the second race of the 2020 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Starting Lineup
1st – Colton Herta
2nd – Santino Ferrucci
3rd – Scott Dixon
4th – Alex Palou
5th – Felix Rosenqvist
6th – Simon Pagenaud
7th – Marco Andretti
8th – Ryan Hunter-Reay
9th – Josef Newgarden
10th – Alexander Rossi
11th – Rinus VeeKay
12th – Graham Rahal
13th – Zach Veach
14th – Oliver Askew
15th – Marcus Ericsson
16th – Conor Daly
17th – Will Power
18th – Max Chilton
19th – Jack Harvey
20th – Dalton Kellett
21st – Pato O’Ward
22nd – Takuma Sato
23rd – Charlie Kimball

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Tune in to NBC at 1:00 p.m. ET this afternoon for the live broadcast of the second race of the 2020 Honda Indy 200 from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

IndyCar: Mid-Ohio starting lineup – Colton Herta takes pole

By Asher Fair | Sep 13, 2020

Colton Herta took his first pole position of the 2020 IndyCar season for the second race of the Honda Indy 200 doubleheader at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.