After two long weeks, Colton Herta finally has something to smile about. On May 17th he crashed hard as he began his Indianapolis 500 qualifying lap and started the race in 27th. He finished 17th, but was moved to 14th after two of his teammates and another car were disqualified.
Today Herta won the pole for tomorrow’s Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit, edging David Malukas by two tenths of a second.
Kyle Kirkwood, started the 500 23rd and drove to a 6th place finish on track before being disqualified, will start third tomorrow.
Overall, it was a day of redemption for Andretti Global.
Notes
David Malukas qualified second, a nice follow up to his second place last Sunday. He held the provisional pole for quite a while, then pulled into the pits with time left, allowing Herta to post a faster time.
Where are IndyCar’s priorities? No action was taken against Will Power for his dangerous pushing of Kyle Kirkwood in yesterday’s practice session, but Alexander Rossi was held out for 10 minutes of practice time this morning because he missed a required weigh in. This a bit skewed in the wrong direction.
Team Penske looked strong for a while. Will Power led his first round group without a tow. Josef Newgarden brushed the wall while on a lap that would have put him in round 2 and he will start 24th. Scott McLaughlin and Power got to the second round, and they will star on the fourth row.
Results

Note– Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon will serve 6 place grid penalties for engine changes. Rahal will start 11th and Dixon starts 16th.
The official starting lineup with starting tire choices will be published after tomorrow’s warm up.