Pagenaud well placed on the grid in Detroit

By setting the third fastest time in the “Firestone Fast Six” session for the Detroit Grand Prix, Simon Pagenaud (MSR) is ideally placed.

The IndyCar championship already resumes this Sunday a week following the Indianapolis 500 Miles.

The Detroit Grand Prix will take place this evening for the last time on the Belle-Isle track before returning to an urban layout in the city center next season.

Josef Newgarden (Penske) snatched pole on the final lap of the “Firestone Fast Six”, the American equivalent of Q3, ahead of Japanese veteran Takuma Sato (Coyne).

The second row on the grid will be occupied by Meyer Shank Racing duettists Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves ahead of Pato O’Ward (McLaren) and the second Coyne single-seater entrusted to young David Malukas (20), best rookie at Indy 500 but to which the jury of journalists preferred NASCAR star Jimmie Johnson (Ganassi) who had not yet seen the checkered flag for the much envied title of “rookie of the year”.

Romain Grosjean (Andretti) will settle for twelfth place on the grid following causing a red flag by hitting the wall at the end of the “Fast 12” phase: he will share the sixth row with his team-mate Alex Rossi, the best placed Andretti drivers being Colton Herta ranked seventh.

The start of the Detroit Grand Prix will be given at 9:30 p.m. (French time) this evening and broadcast at 10:55 p.m. on Canal + Décalé.

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