Colton Herta secured the pole position for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear, continuing Andretti Global’s strong performance on the streets of downtown Detroit. Herta claimed his first pole of the season and the 15th of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career with a best lap of 1 minute, .4779 of a second in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda during the Firestone Fast Six.
Herta’s pole came after a strategic gamble in the final qualifying segment, as he was the only driver to start the session on used primary Firestone Firehawk tires before switching to a new set of the softer but grippier alternate tires early in the session. The other five drivers ran the entire Firestone Fast Six session on a combination of new and used Firestone Firehawk alternates.
“It was such an unknown, and we were not really strong, to be completely honest, yesterday with the softer tires,” Herta said. “The guys did a great job overnight. The Gainbridge Honda was super fast today.”
“Happy to start P1 tomorrow – the best seat in the house. Now we just need a nice, easy race – no yellows, go back to how it was before Indy – and make it easy on us.”
David Malukas, fresh off his runner-up finish in the Indianapolis 500, qualified second, marking his best career qualifying performance on a road or street circuit. Kyle Kirkwood, also from Andretti Global, qualified third, further highlighting the team’s dominance this weekend.
Christian Lundgaard secured the fourth spot, while Graham Rahal qualified fifth, continuing Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s recent improvement on circuits with left and right turns.
Series points leader Alex Palou rounded out the Firestone Fast Six, recovering from a challenging start to the weekend to qualify sixth. Palou, who has won five of the first six races this season, leads second-place Pato O’Ward by a commanding 112 points.
The 100-lap Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear is set to start at 12:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, with live coverage on FOX, the FOX Sports app, and the INDYCAR Radio Network.
