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| Felix Rosenqvist's first career pole position comes at Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
This is Scott Dixon's second time has started on the front row for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Dixon started second for the 2015 race but finished tenth. Dixon has never finished worse than the previous Grand Prix of Indianapolis. After finishing 17th in the inaugural race, he has finished tenth, seventh, second and second. Dixon has the third best average finish in this race all-time amongst drivers with at least three starts at 7.6. The last time Chip Ganassi Racing swept the front row was at Texas in 2017 with Charlie Kimball on pole position and Dixon in second. The last time Ganassi swept the front row on a road or street course was the second Toronto race in 2013 with Dixon on pole position and Dario Franchitti in second.
This will be Jack Harvey's Grand Prix of Indianapolis debut and he will make it from third on the grid. Harvey missed out on pole position by 0.0453 seconds. Before this weekend, Harvey's best career starting position was seventh, which came at St. Petersburg in March. He had finishes of third, second, first and fifth in four Indy Lights starts on the IMS road course. His victory in the first race in 2015 was a grand slam with Harvey leading every lap from pole position and picking up fastest lap in the process. While this is Meyer Shank Racing's first time in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the team contested all three IMSA sports car races at the circuit. The team's best finish was sixth in 2014 with John Pew and Oswaldo Negri in the #60 Ford Riley DP.
Colton Herta is another driver make his Grand Prix of Indianapolis debut and he joins fellow debutant Harvey on round two. Herta was 0.0958 seconds off Rosenqvist. Herta made six starts on the IMS road course. In 2014, Herta finished fifth in the first U.S. F2000 race at the track and it was only his third start in U.S. F2000. In the second race, he finished 20th. His first Indy Lights weekend in 2017 did not go as planned with a tire puncture and wing damage forcing him to finish 12th and tenth in the two races. Last year, Herta swept the Indy Lights races, becoming the first driver to sweep the Indy Lights races at the IMS road course. Herta won from fourth at Austin in March.
Honda swept the first two rows of the grid and the top Chevrolet is Ed Jones, who made the final round of qualifying for the first time in his IndyCar career and he will start fifth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Jones did start fourth last year for the second Belle Isle race but knockout qualifying is not used for the doubleheader weekend. Jones had never started better than 13th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. His average finish in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is 20.5. All three of Jones' top five finishes are third place finishes coming in the 2017 Indianapolis 500 and last season at Long Beach and the second Belle Isle race.
Will Power will start sixth, his second worst starting position in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. All three of Power's Grand Prix of Indianapolis victories came from pole position. Since 2015, Will Power has won 20 pole positions but he has only won four of those races. Three of those victories are the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The lone exception is the 2016 Road America race. From Sonoma in 2010 through Fontana 2014, Power started on pole position 20 times and he went on to win eight of those races. He has never won a race from sixth on the grid. When Chip Ganassi Racing last swept a front row at Texas in 2017, Power won the race.
Graham Rahal will start seventh after missing out on the final round of qualifying by 0.0453 seconds. Rahal enters this race off the back of four consecutive top ten finishes in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis but before this year's race he had never started better than 12th in this race. Rahal is looking for his third top five finish in the first five races of the season and it would be the second time he had three top five finishes from the first five races with the only other year being 2016. Simon Pagenaud joins his 2007 Atlantics Championship rival on row four. This is Pagenaud's worst starting position in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Pagenaud has never won a race from eighth on the grid. His best finish from eighth on the grid was second at Mid-Ohio in 2013.
Marcus Ericsson advanced from the first round of qualifying for the first time in his IndyCar career and Ericsson will start in the top ten for the first time in his IndyCar career with the Swede rolling off from ninth on the grid. The last time a driver won from ninth starting position was Will Power at Texas in 2017. The last time a driver won from ninth starting position on a road or street course was Scott Dixon at Sonoma in 2015. Sébastien Bourdais rounds out the top ten. This is Bourdais worst career starting position in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The Frenchman has finished in fourth place eight times in his IndyCar career. Those eight finishes have occurred at six different tracks. The only track where Bourdais has finished fourth multiple times is the IMS road course and he has finished in fourth position three times at this track.
Takuma Sato advanced to the second round of qualifying for the second consecutive year in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis but he could only match his career best starting position in this race and will roll off from 11th. Sato's best finish in the fifth race of the season was ninth in the 2015 Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Sato has never finished in the top ten of the race prior to the Indianapolis 500 and then gone on to finish in the top ten of the Indianapolis 500. Spencer Pigot rounds out the round two runners and will start 12th. Last season, Pigot made it out of the first round of qualifying only twice and this was his second time advancing to the second round of qualifying in the first five races of 2019.
Josef Newgarden failed to make the second round of qualifying by 0.021 seconds and he will start 13th. Newgarden has never finished better than 11th in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. He is one of two drivers to have started every Grand Prix of Indianapolis and not have finished in the top ten. The IMS road course is only one of two tracks where Newgarden has at least five starts and has yet to finish on the podium. The other track is Texas. He enters this weekend with 12 consecutive top ten finishes and top five finishes in each of the first four races this season. Santino Ferrucci missed out on advancing by 0.769 seconds and he makes it an all-American round seven.
Alexander Rossi did not make it to the second round of qualifying for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis for the first time in his career and he will start 17th. This is Rossi's first time starting outside the top ten since he started 32nd in last year's Indianapolis 500. This is the first time he did not advance to the second round of qualifying since Road America 2017. The IMS road course is one of four tracks where Rossi has made multiple starts and has finished in the top ten of every start. The others are the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, Watkins Glen and Gateway. James Hinchcliffe will have a career worst 18th starting position in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. While Hinchcliffe has three top ten finishes from the first four races of the season he has yet to score a top five finish. The only time Hinchcliffe has not had a top five finish in one of the first five races of a season was in 2014. He has had at least one podium finish in the first five races of a season the last four seasons and in six of the eight seasons in his IndyCar career.
Patricio O'Ward's Grand Prix of Indianapolis debut will come from 19th on the grid. O'Ward swept the Pro Mazda races on the IMS road course in 2016. Last year, O'Ward started on pole position for each race on the IMS road course but finished fourth and seventh. Zach Veach rounds out the top twenty. Between Indy Lights and IndyCar, Veach's best finish on the IMS road course was fifth in the second Indy Lights race in 2016. His other Indy Lights finishes on the IMS road course are ninth, seventh and tenth. Last year, Veach struggled with mechanical problems and finished 23rd in his Grand Prix of Indianapolis debut. Matheus Leist will start 21st. Last year, Leist started 21st and finished 21st. This will be Matheus Leist's 22nd IndyCar start. He has yet to score a top ten finish. Max Chilton will start 22nd and Chilton has finished outside the top ten in the last 22 races. His 14th place finish at Long Beach last time out was his first top fifteen finish in six races. He has not finished in the top fifteen on a road or street course since he finished 11th in the second Belle Isle race last year.
None of the four Andretti Autosport cars made it out of the first round of qualifying and Marco Andretti rounds out the quartet of drivers, starting on the final row of the grid with Tony Kanaan. This is the first time Andretti will start outside the top twenty since Mid-Ohio in 2016. Andretti has not finished in the top ten in five starts at the IMS road course, the track with the most starts without a top ten for Andretti. The only other tracks where Andretti has multiple starts and does not have a top ten finish are Phoenix, Road America and Gateway. He has also never started in the top ten on the IMS road course. Kanaan had made it to the second round of qualifying in every Grand Prix of Indianapolis entering this year's race. This is the fourth time Kanaan has started outside the top twenty this season. He previously started outside the top twenty in four of the 75 races before the start of the 2019 season.
NBC's coverage of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis starts at 3:00 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:50 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 85 laps.
