St Pete – Qualifications: Herta on pole, Pagenaud 4th

Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport) took pole on the narrow streets of St Petersburg thanks to a best lap of 1'00"3210. He was 2/10ths ahead of Jack Harvey (Meyer Shank), another Honda-powered driver, whose car has technical support from Andretti.

This is the 5th pole for the Californian, who is starting his 3rd season in the series.
 

Congratulations to the NTT P1 award winner, @ColtonHerta!#INDYCAR // #FirestoneGP pic.twitter.com/2XZKUU2Qjz

—NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) April 24, 2021

The fastest since the start of the weekend, Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) had to settle for 3rd fastest time, just ahead of his teammate, simon pagenaud, who is recovering from his difficult start at Barber, where he started from 18th place.

Discreet since the start of activities in his city of residence, Sébastien Bourdais found speed when it counted, to set the 5th fastest time. The AJ Foyt Racing driver, twice winner in St Pete, in 2017 and 2018, will seek to achieve a third success.

Still on the French side, Romain Grosjean was unable to advance into the second segment of qualifying, unlike last week. In his group, the second, he finished in 9th place, while only the first six reached Q2.

«We were competitive in free practice, but the changes made for qualifying did not have the desired effect, did he declare. It's not a good afternoon for me, but it's part of the learning».

The Dale Coyne Racing rookie still beat Will Power (Penske), only tenth in his group, although he has been a nine-time poleman in Florida, the last time last October, when St Petersburg exceptionally acted as a dropout. curtain of the season.

The race will take place on Sunday from 18:30 p.m. (HF).