Qualifying report
IndyCar Long Beach
Long Beach IndyCar: Rossi beats Dixon, Power to pole
Alexander Rossi delivered a brilliant qualifying lap to score his second consecutive Long Beach IndyCar pole by over a quarter of a second to beat Scott Dixon, the three Team Penske-Chevrolets and Graham Rahal.
David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: Apr 14, 2019, 4:22 PM
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Andretti Autosport-Honda driver Rossi lapped the 1.968-mile course in 66.481s, at an average speed of 106.569mph, to beat Dixon by 0.2668sec. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver appeared to be on a faster run but abandoned his effort at Turn 9.
Will Power, despite struggling through practice, conjured up a time – albeit 0.4sec off pole – good enough to beat Penske teammates Josef Newgarden and Simon Pagenaud, as well as Rahal's Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda.
Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) was the surprise exclusion at the end of Q2 as he tried to advance using scuffed alternate compound Firestones to save himself a new set for the Firestone Fast Six. He will start alongside Barber Motorsports Park winner Takuma Sato in the second RLLR-Honda, who tried the exact same tactic.
Patricio O’Ward slotted his Carlin Racing-Chevy into ninth alongside his former Indy Lights rival and teammate Colton Herta of Harding Steinbrenner Racing, with Marco Andretti in 11th.
Ganassi’s second car, that of Felix Rosenqvist, blew his chances of making it into the Firestone Fast Six, having just claimed second-fastest time during Q2. He locked up under braking at the end of the back straight, and skidded down the escape road where he thumped into a tire barrier, bringing out the red flags. He lost his two fastest times and will start 12th.
Tony Kanaan shunted at Turn 6 during Q1 Group 1, just after using an early switch to red alternate tires to lift his AJ Foyt Racing-Chevy into the top six to advance to Q2. The inevitable red flag that followed cost him his best times, but also occurred late enough in the segment that it killed off the chances of those who hadn’t yet set a time on alternate Firestones.
These included both Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda drivers, James Hinchcliffe and Marcus Ericsson, as well as Santino Ferrucci in the Dale Coyne Racing-Honda and Ed Jones in the Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy.
Three-time Long Beach winner Sebastien Bourdais in the Dale Coyne Racing Vasser-Sullivan Honda was eliminated in Q1 Group 2 by a wall-brushing late effort from Herta, while Max Chilton (Carlin), Jack Harvey (Meyer Shank-SPM), Matheus Leist (Foyt), Zach Veach (Andretti) and Spencer Pigot (ECR) also dropped out.
Firestone Fast Six:
Pos. # Driver Team Time Gap 1 27 
Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport 1'06.4811 2 9 
Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 1'06.7479 0.2668 3 12 
Will Power Team Penske 1'06.8748 0.3937 4 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske 1'06.9096 0.4285 5 22 
Simon Pagenaud Team Penske 1'07.1877 0.7066 6 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'07.3052 0.8241
Q2:
Pos. # Driver Team Time Gap 1 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 1'06.6566 2 27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport 1'06.7644 0.1078 3 22 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske 1'06.9328 0.2762 4 12 Will Power Team Penske 1'06.9620 0.3054 5 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'07.0414 0.3848 6 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske 1'07.0710 0.4144 7 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 1'07.1520 0.4954 8 30 
Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'07.2626 0.6060 9 31 
Patricio O'Ward 
Carlin 1'07.2764 0.6198 10 88 Colton Herta Harding Racing 1'07.7721 1.1155 11 98 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 1'08.3746 1.7180 12 10 
Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing 1'08.4410 1.7844
Q1 Group 2:
POs. # Driver Team Time Gap 1 27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport 1'06.8621 2 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 1'07.0080 0.1459 3 22 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske 1'07.1474 0.2853 4 98 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 1'07.2040 0.3419 5 88 Colton Herta Harding Racing 1'07.2201 0.3580 6 31 Patricio O'Ward Carlin 1'07.2620 0.3999 7 18 Sébastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing 1'07.3135 0.4514 8 59 Max Chilton Carlin 1'07.4577 0.5956 9 60 Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing 1'07.5287 0.6666 10 4 
Matheus Leist A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'07.7317 0.8696 11 26 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport 1'07.7822 0.9201 12 21 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing 1'07.8763 1.0142
Q1 Group 1:
Pos. # Driver Team Time Gap 1 30 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'07.7245 2 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 1'07.7307 0.0062 3 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske 1'07.7836 0.0591 4 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'07.8102 0.0857 5 12 Will Power Team Penske 1'08.0121 0.2876 6 10 Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing 1'08.0811 0.3566 7 19 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing 1'08.1008 0.3763 8 5 
James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 1'08.1811 0.4566 9 20 
Ed Jones Ed Carpenter Racing 1'08.7711 1.0466 10 7 Marcus Ericsson Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 1'08.9516 1.2271 11 14 Tony Kanaan A.J. Foyt Enterprises 3'22.3800 2'14.6555
GRID LINE-UP
Cla # Driver Team Time Gap Mph 1 27 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport 1'06.4811 106.569 2 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 1'06.7479 0.2668 106.143 3 12 Will Power Team Penske 1'06.8748 0.3937 105.941 4 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske 1'06.9096 0.4285 105.886 5 22 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske 1'07.1877 0.7066 105.448 6 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'07.3052 0.8241 105.264 7 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport 1'07.1520 0.6709 105.504 8 30 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'07.2626 0.7815 105.330 9 31 Patricio O'Ward Carlin 1'07.2764 0.7953 105.309 10 88 Colton Herta Harding Racing 1'07.7721 1.2910 104.539 11 98 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport 1'08.3746 1.8935 103.617 12 10 Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing 1'08.4410 1.9599 103.517 13 19 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing 1'08.1008 1.6197 104.034 14 18 Sébastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing 1'07.3135 0.8324 105.251 15 5 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 1'08.1811 1.7000 103.911 16 59 Max Chilton Carlin 1'07.4577 0.9766 105.026 17 20 Ed Jones Ed Carpenter Racing 1'08.7711 2.2900 103.020 18 60 Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing 1'07.5287 1.0476 104.915 19 7 Marcus Ericsson Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 1'08.9516 2.4705 102.750 20 4 Matheus Leist A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'07.7317 1.2506 104.601 21 14 Tony Kanaan A.J. Foyt Enterprises 3'22.3800 2'15.8989 35.007 22 26 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport 1'07.7822 1.3011 104.523 23 21 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing 1'07.8763 1.3952 104.378
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