• Colton Herta takes his Andretti Autosport Honda to the top in qualifying for Sunday’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America
• Seventh NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole of 2023 for Honda drivers and teams
• Championship leader Alex Palou to start third in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

ELKHART LAKE, WI (June 17, 2023) – Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta will start from the pole in tomorrow’s Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America, as Honda claimed the company’s seventh pole in eight events of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES. The pole is the first of the year for Herta, but his 10th career pole.

Championship points leader Alex Palou and his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing crew rebounded from a crash in the morning practice session and advance to final qualifying. The 2021 series champion will start third.

Honda-powered Kyle Kirkwood also advanced to the final round and will start sixth despite a mechanical issue with his #26 Andretti Autosport machine in the final moments of the second qualifying round. Honda powered six of the top 10 in today’s qualifying.

Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America Honda Qualifying Results

• 1st Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
• 3rd Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 6th Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport Honda
• 7th Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 8th Marcus Armstrong-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 9th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 12th Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Autosport Honda
• 13th David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
• 14th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 19th Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda
• 20th Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• 23rd Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 24th Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 25th Sting Ray Robb-R Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
• 26th Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes

Colton Herta (#26 Andretti Autosport Honda) pole qualifier: “It was just a great car. We’ve been working at it the whole time. Like I said earlier, this place [Road America] with the repave is not easy. To have a car that was stable enough to really attack in the last Fast Six [final qualifying] was impressive. Big props to Nathan O’Rourke, my engineer, the whole Gainbridge Honda crew. It’s been way too long this year for us to get a pole, so it’s nice to finally get one!”

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified third: “It’s a bit disappointing, with the big crash that we had in [morning] practice. We put a lot of work into [repairing] it, not just the #10 car, but all of the Ganassi guys. But, they made it! They gave us the car that we needed to fight for pole. We missed a little bit—but honestly, missing so much of practice 2, I thought was going to affect us a bit more. But, good to be starting third. I’m going to be following Colton on the grid and hopefully we can have a Honda 1-2 after lap one!”

Fast Facts

• Colton Herta’s pole today is the seventh pole for Honda drivers and teams in eight events this year.
• Honda continues leading the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship, with four victories in seven races this season (prior to tomorrow’s race at Road America). Honda currently holds a 22-point advantage (575-553) over rival Chevrolet in the Manufacturers’ Championship contest. Honda is seeking its fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES title in the last six years in 2023.
• Honda drivers are first, second and fourth in the INDYCAR Drivers’ Championship points standings. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou leads the title fight with 273 points; while teammate Marcus Ericsson is second with 222 points. Six-time series champion Scott Dixon is fourth in his Chip Ganassi Honda, with 194 points.
• Honda Indy car drivers have scored eight victories at Road America, most recently in 2021, won by that season’s eventual series champion, Alex Palou, in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Where to Watch

Television coverage of Sunday’s Sonsio Grand Prix of Road America starts at 1 p.m. ET on USA. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on NBC Peacock, the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).