Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden in the No.2 Hitachi Chevrolet was the fastest in the final practice session ahead of today’s penultimate race, the BtNile.com Portland Grand Prix. The Tennessee native set a fastest time of 00:59.4533s ending the session just ahead of Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing, who did a fantastic job ending the session in second place with a 00:59.5342s.
Championship leader Alex Palou in the No.10 The American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was third fastest, just ahead of Marcus Ericsson and Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Agustin Canapino was sixth fastest with a time of 00:59.7508s which was a fantastic result for Juncos Hollinger Racing. Rinus VeeKay was seventh, just ahead of Colton Herta and Will Power while Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Motorsports Honda rounded out the top ten.
Felix Rosenqvist was 11th and speaking following qualifying he said:
“Frustrating qualifying session. We had the fastest time of the day, and then a mechanical issue keeps us from the Firestone Fast Six. We can’t seem to catch a break–just really frustrating for the whole crew. We’ll look into it and make the most of race day tomorrow from P11.”
Helio Castroneves was 12th just ahead of Tom Blomqvist and Alexander Rossi. Marcus Armstrong was 15th just ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Benjamin Pedersen.
Pole-sitter Graham Rahal was 18th just ahead of Devlin DeFrancesco and Romain Grosjean who rounded out the top twenty. Scott McLaughlin was 21st just ahead of Christian Lundgaard and Santino Ferrucci while Kyle Kirkwood was 24th just ahead of Pato O’Ward who commented saying:
“It’s another Firestone Fast Six for us. Obviously there’s still something we need to find in the Fast Six because we have yet to be on pole, and I’m not quite sure why we were so far off from the rest of the cars in the Fast Six. It’s still a decent starting position for tomorrow.”
Sting Ray Robb was 26th while Juri Vips rounded out the order in 27th place.