QUALIFYING REPORT: Detroit Grand Prix

• Building on his quickest lap in Practice 2 earlier this morning, Colton Herta not only put the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda on pole for the second time in Detroit, but he also broke his own track record he set last year in the Motor City by 0.0696 seconds.
• Today’s result marks Herta’s seventh street circuit pole position and 27th front row start of his career.

“I’m incredibly happy with how today turned out. I think it was a huge rebound from where we thought we were yesterday. So huge props to all the guys and the whole engineering crew for the turnaround today and giving us the ability to go for the pole. The Gainbridge Honda seems very fast, and we hope to continue Honda’s streak of wins tomorrow.”

• After topping the leaderboard in yesterday’s practice and posting the third fastest lap in practice this morning, Kyle Kirkwood kept his street course momentum, making it to the Firestone Fast Six for the 13th time in his INDYCAR career.
• Kirkwood was trending toward the pole position, or a front-row start at least, in the Firestone Fast Six before contact with the wall late in the session dropped the No. 27 Siemens AWS Honda back to a second-row start.
• Lining up third tomorrow, today’s result marks Kirkwood’s best career start in the Motor City.
• With four street circuit victories and two top-10 finishes in Detroit, Kyle Kirkwood will look to add his first win in the Motor City tomorrow.

“It was a good day for Andretti Global and Honda. Locking out the first two rows is a strong place to be, especially on a tricky street course like this. I’m happy with our performance overall in the Siemens AWS Honda. Honestly, I threw away a pole today. I was on a lap that was about four-tenths quicker than what ended up being the pole, but I hit the wall. However, to come away with third, I’m super happy with the result. We’ve always had good race cars here, and Honda continues to give us the power we need, especially at tracks like this where getting off the corner matters. Being up front is important, and now the goal is to stay there tomorrow.”

• Set to make this third start at the Detroit Grand Prix, Marcus Ericsson was the sole Andretti driver out in Round 1’s first group.
• Running as high as first during the opening round, the Swede was looking to have enough speed to advance to the Fast 12 as the session was coming to a close. Unfortunately, a competitive first group pushed Ericsson out of the top six at the last minute, forcing the No. 28 Siemens Honda to just narrowly miss out on advancing to Round 2 by one hundredth of a second.
• With a Streets of Detroit podium finish on his resume, Ericsson will look to claim his second street course victory for tomorrow’s 100-lap race.

“I was really close. The whole Siemens Honda team put together a great car. Unfortunately, I didn’t think I got a good lap at the end there, and it’s obviously frustrating to only be a hundredth of a second from advancing. It stings a bit, but we can race from there. “

“It’s been a challenging week for the whole team, but I’m very proud of everyone for how they stepped up, refocused and kept their minds on the job at hand this weekend. We’re happy to get pole here again with Colton and the No. 26 Gainbridge team. I think Kyle got a bit unlucky there at the end, but he’s still starting near the front. Marcus has a better car than what he was able to show in qualifying today as well. Also, it’s great to have a front-row lockout on the INDY NXT side with Dennis and Lochie. So, there’s no reason that Andretti can’t have a good day again tomorrow. That’s what really counts to complete the weekend. Overall, it was a good day, and we need more of the same going forward.”