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Herta, Honda Claim Portland Pole

Herta, Honda Claim Portland Pole



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PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire-HISPANIC PR WIRE/ — After leading practice on Friday, Honda-powered rookie Colton Herta again led the way today at Portland International Raceway today, claiming the pole on his final qualifying lap for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland.

Honda’s Colton Herta claimed his second pole of the season in NTT IndyCar Series qualifying at Portland International Raceway.

Advancing through the first two rounds of NTT IndyCar Series knockout qualifying, Herta trailed early-pace setter Will Power after all six final-round qualifiers made their initial laps.  Exiting the pits with just over a minute remaining in the session, Herta posted a lap of 57.8111 seconds around the 1.9-mile PIR road course to edge Power by 19 one-thousandths of a second.  Today’s performance is the second IndyCar Series pole of the season for the 19-year-old rookie, with Herta’s first pole having come on the Road America road course in June.

Defending series champion Scott Dixon will start third as Honda drivers claimed five of the top six starting positions. Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Felix Rosenqvist, qualified fifth. Making just his ninth road course start of the season, Jack Harvey will start fourth for Meyer Shank Racing.  Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the Fast Six qualifiers for Andretti Autosport.

Television coverage of Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland, the 16th and next-to-last round of the 2019 season, begins at 3 p.m. EDT on NBC.

Colton Herta (Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda) Pole qualifier, second pole of 2019 and second career IndyCar Series pole: “We always planned to do three-and-one [three laps on the Firestone primary ‘Black’ sidewall tires, and one lap on the softer compound ‘Reds’ in the final round of qualifying].  We didn’t have it on the ‘Blacks’, I think we were like five-hundredths [of a second] off Will [Power].  Obviously, ‘Reds’ were the right choice and we pulled it off.  It’s always a good day when you can beat Will Power in the Fast Six [final qualifying]. Before I knew we won the pole position, I went on the radio and heard everyone cheering, so to find out that way was really cool. This is awesome.”

NTT IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Portland

Circuit:

Portland International Raceway (1.9-mile road course) Portland, Oregon

2018 Winner:

Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) 102.971 mph average speed

Weather:

Mostly sunny, warm, 82 degrees F

 

Top-12, Honda Qualifying Results:

Ps.

Driver    

Team

Manufacturer

Best Time

Notes

1.

Colton Herta-R

Harding Steinbrenner Racing

Honda

57.8111

122.302 mph average

2.

Will Power

Team Penske

Chevrolet

57.8303

+0.0192 seconds

3.

Scott Dixon

Chip Ganassi Racing

Honda

57.8355

Fast Six Final Qualifying

4.

Jack Harvey

Meyer Shank Racing          

Honda

58.1008

Fast Six Final Qualifying

5.

Felix Rosenqvist-R

Chip Ganassi Racing          

Honda

58.1620

Fast Six Final Qualifying

6.

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Andretti Autosport

Honda

58.1823

Fast Six Final Qualifying

7.

Alexander Rossi

Andretti Autosport

Honda

57.8864

2nd Round Qualifying

8.

James Hinchcliffe

Arrow Schmidt Peterson 

Honda

57.9994

2nd Round Qualifying

9.

Conor Daly

Arrow Schmidt Peterson 

Honda

58.0192

2nd Round Qualifying

10.

Spencer Pigot

Ed Carpenter Racing

Chevrolet

58.0415

2nd Round Qualifying

11.

Zach Veach

Andretti Autosport

Honda

58.2149

2nd Round Qualifying

12.

Sebastien Bourdais

DCR with Vasser-Sullivan  

Honda

58.3001

2nd Round Qualifying

Other Honda Results

14.

Santino Ferrucci-R

Dale Coyne Racing            

Honda

57.8476

1st Round, Group 2

15.

Graham Rahal

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Honda

57.9648

1st Round, Group 1

16.

Marco Andretti

Andretti Autosport

Honda

57.8527

1st Round, Group 2

17.

Takuma Sato

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Honda

57.9668

1st Round, Group 1

 

Honda Racing HPD Logo. (PRNewsFoto/Honda Performance Development, Inc.) (PRNewsFoto/HONDA PERFORMANCE DEVELOP...)

Photo:
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/968384/Honda_Racing_HPD_NTT_IndyCar_Series.jpg

Logo:
https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/83597/honda_performance_development__inc__honda_racing_logo.jpg

 

SOURCE Honda Racing/HPD

Herta, Honda Claim Portland Pole