Top ten start for Scott McLaughlin in Detroit as Newgarden takes pole
Scott McLaughlin secured a top ten start for the Indycar Detroit Grand Prix as Josef Newgarden set a blazing lap in his final attempt to earn pole.
Newgarden set a time of 1:15.2153 in his final flying lap of the Fast Six to claim his first NTT P1 Award of the 2022 season.
“I was loose; I was about hitting the wall every corner,” said the two-time series champion.
“I think we needed two laps to get [tyre] temperature."
"I was just struggling to build temp."
"That was a good pole."
"Sometimes the car is just so good that it’s hooked up. I was loose today, and we put it together."
"I’m really proud of the team.”
Takuma Sato lines up on the front row alongside Newgarden, while rookie David Malukas took the best starting spot of his career in fifth.
Scott McLaughlin joined Marcus Ericsson, winner of last week's Indy 500, and Scott Dixon in missing the Fast Six.
The second part of qualifying was cut short when Romain Grosjean hit the hall in the final stages, catching out Dixon, Colton Herta, and Alexander Rossi.
Dixon will start ninth, with McLaughlin beside him in tenth.
Will Power, Kyle Kirkwood and Alex Palou, current series leader, all failed to progress to the second round of qualifying on the congested 2.35-mile circuit.
Power will start sixteenth on Monday, with the race to start at 5.00am Monday (AEST) on Stan Sport.
2022 NTT Indycar Series - Detroit Grand Prix Qualifying
Josef Newgarden
Takuma Sato
Simon Pagenaud
Helio Castroneves
Pato O'Ward
David Malukas
Colton Herta
Marcus Ericsson
Scott Dixon (NZ)
Scott McLaughlin (NZ)
Alexander Rossi
Romain Grosjean
Conor Daly
Rinus VeeKay
Kyle Kirkwood
Will Power (AUS)
Santino Ferrucci
Alex Palou
Christian Lundgaard
Jack Harvey
Devlin DeFrancesco
Jimmie Johnson
Graham Rahal
Tatiana Calderon
Dalton Kellett
Felix Rosenqvist