McLaughlin, Herta split poles in “bizarre” Iowa qualifying

Colton Herta will start the first leg of the Iowa Speedway double-header from pole position after a dramatic conclusion to qualifying.

Herta set the fastest time on his first flying lap to set the grid for Sunday’s race but only wound up fourth for race two.

He bemoaned a hybrid deployment issue that he said starved him of potential lap time.

IndyCar gave Herta and his Andretti Global team the opportunity to complete a second run before qualifying was completed with the caveat that his first run would be scratched.

However, as the session progressed, it became clear that Herta would have the pole for the first 250-lap race.

After much conjecture, Herta’s car was pulled back from pit exit and with it he sealed pole position.

“That’s the most bizarre pole IndyCar has seen in a while,” said Herta.

“I’m happy that we ended up holding on. It’s tough. It’s my first oval pole and it means a lot to finally get that monkey off my back.

“Hopefully we can follow it up with a first oval win tonight.”

188.248! 🤯@smclaughlin93 was FLYING!

📺: #INDYCAR qualifying on Peacock pic.twitter.com/OaiXRTvCZj

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 13, 2024

Sunday’s race will see Herta share the front row with McLaughlin while row two will be shared by IndyCar points leader Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Will Power (Team Penske).

Row three will be shared by Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Pato O’Ward (McLaren). Alexander Rossi (McLaren) and Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing) lock out row four.

Monday’s race will see McLaughlin start from the pole with Palou alongside him. Dixon and Herta make up row two, Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) makes up row three with Rossi, while row four will be shared by O’Ward and Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing).

Despite his dominance at Iowa Speedway in recent years, Josef Newgarden languished in 22nd and 14th across his two laps.

“That’s what we had,” said the Team Penske driver.

“I don’t think we had the best balance. We gave a shot at it and a little short.”

😳 @MarcusArmstrng

📺: #INDYCAR qualifying on Peacock pic.twitter.com/JOgNikRkWN

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 13, 2024

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong was up and down in his qualifying run.

He was 10th fastest on his first lap only to suffer understeer and slide up into the wall on his second lap to qualify second-to-last.

“I had a lot more understeer than I was expecting,” said Armstrong after the incident.

“Even the first lap felt really average and I had to get out of the throttle a bunch of times.

“Then on that second lap I made some adjustments and I still had a load of understeer.

“That was my fault for keeping my foot in it. I’m sorry to them.

“The lap time was so much quicker than I was expecting considering the lap was pretty messy. Dammit, we didn’t quite nail it.”

Like Armstrong before him, Power was quick on his first lap only to slide up into the wall on his second lap. He’ll star the first race from fourth but will start the second in a lowly 23rd.

The Hy-Vee Homefront 250 is scheduled to start at 10am AEST.

IndyCar Series: Iowa Speedway, Hy-Vee Homefront 250 qualifying

IndyCar Series: Iowa Speedway, Hy-Vee One Step 250 qualifying