Toronto, ON – Colton Herta secured his third pole for the NTT INDYCAR Series’ Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto, with a lap of 59.832 seconds (107.461 mph) on the 1.786-mile, 11-turn temporary street course at Exhibition Place. He outpaced Alex Palou, who will start alongside on the front row, by 0.2758 seconds.
“We have a great car here, plain and simple,” explained Herta, winning his second consecutive pole in Toronto, driving for Andretti Global. “I’d like to think it is because we are better than everybody else. It was a stressful one, though. I was really close to being knocked out in the first round. We had to make some adjustments on pit lane that worked beautifully and got us back into contention.
“The car’s still that much faster than everybody else,” continued Herta. “It shows what this team is capable of on street courses and is a dominant force for this style of racing. It will be a tough race, really a long one, with the added five laps (now a 90-lap race) and physically a challenge. We were extremely competitive on blacks (the primary, harder tires). We’re fast on the alternates (green street course tire), but I feel we’re even more competitive on blacks.”
Teammate Kyle Kirkwood, who set the second-fastest time in the morning practice, made a mistake in Turn 8 when he took too much curb and slid through the turn, losing time.
“We gave away the pole,” said Kirkwood. “I started the lap and for the first time I had a huge snap as the car was understeering. The car bottomed and I threw it away. I’m very disappointed.”
Starting alongside Herta is three-time INDYCAR champion Alex Palou, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, who had never advanced to the Fast 12 qualifying group at Toronto before today.
“Normally we’ve been struggling a lot here in Toronto,” explained Palou. “I tried to be starting up in the front and in the Fast Six. I’m super happy to be starting on the front row. We’ve been making the qualifying car a bit better, just doing short stints. So, I don’t really know about our race car for tomorrow. Hopefully we have something for Herta.”
Asked why the Andretti Global team does so well on street courses, Herta, who won last year’s 85-lap race from pole, said “it’s our set-up. And the dampers play a big part because the INDYCAR allows open development.”
Also making the Fast Six were Marcus Armstrong, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Kirkwood.
The race is anticipated to have the primary/black side wall tire preferred, which is consistent over a fuel stint of 28 to 35 laps, rather than the softer green sidewall/alternate street course tire that might only last 8 to 12 laps before losing significant pace.
Many drivers may start on the softer, alternate tire in the hopes of fulfilling the requirement to run a minimum of two laps on both the new, alternate tires and black, primary tires. By anticipating an early caution, drivers can pit, switching to the primary black tires in what could be a two- or three-stop race strategy. Choosing the right strategy and being lucky to pit during caution laps will determine the winner.
The race starts at 12:22 p.m. local time and will be televised on TSN 4 and CTV 2.
