August 20, 2022
— MADISON, Ill.
- Marcus Ericsson completes career-best INDYCAR qualifying run, will start on the outside of the front row in Saturday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500
- Teammates and championship contenders Alex Palou and Scott Dixon qualify fifth and sixth for Honda and Chip Ganassi Racing
- Devlin DeFrancesco leads rookie field with 10th-place qualifying run
In the best qualifying performance of his nearly four-year NTT INDYCAR SERIES career, Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson qualified second today for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway and will start on the outside of the front row in the 260-lap twilight contest.
Third in the Drivers’ Championship standings, just 12 points out of first, Ericsson heads a Chip Ganassi Honda effort that saw teammates Alex Palou and Scott Dixon qualifying fifth and sixth, respectively. Dixon is currently second in the championship standings, just six points out of first with three races remaining; while defending champion Palou is fifth, 33 points back.
Takuma Sato, winner of the 2019 race here, will start eighth for Dale Coyne Racing, while Devlin DeFrancesco led the rookie contingent with a 10th-place qualifying effort as Andretti Autosport Hondas qualified ninth through 12th. In all, Honda drivers posted 11 of the top 15 qualifying speeds in the 25-car starting field.
Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Honda Qualifying Results
- 2nd Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
- 5th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
- 6th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
- 8th Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
- 9th Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda*
- 10th Devlin DeFrancesco–R Andretti Autosport Honda
- 11th Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda
- 12th Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
- 13th David Malukas-R Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
- 14th Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda
- 15th Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
- 17th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
- 18th Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda
- 19th Christian Lundgaard–R Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
- 21st Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
R – Rookie
* qualified 9th, but will start 18th due to a penalty for an “unapproved engine change”
Quotes
Marcus Ericsson (#8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) will start second, career-best INDYCAR start: “I’m feeling great! The #8 Bryant Heating & Cooling Honda was really good out there, the team has done a really good job all day really. We rolled off really strong in practice; then we tuned on it for qualifying and we did a really good run. It’s my best-ever qualifying result in my Indy car career so I’m happy about that! Of course, it would be nice to be on pole, but we’ll try again and I think we’ll have a really strong package in the race tomorrow.”
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Honda) will start fifth: “I’m super happy. This is my [career] best oval qualifying that isn’t the Indy 500. Starting top five is always a good place, and we [Honda and Chip Ganassi Racing] have three cars in the top six to try and fight for a race win tomorrow. First of all, though, I need to finish the race. We didn’t finish the race last year and then I need to try and get as many points as possible. We’re in the championship fight and maybe it’s not my best place to gain points on the leaders, but starting up front we can make it happen tomorrow!”
Fast Facts
- This weekend’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 will mark the 14th Indy car race to be held in the St. Louis area, and the seventh at the repaved and updated 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway oval. The 260-lap event is the fifth and final oval race of the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.
- World Wide Technology Raceway has been the scene of several significant Honda Racing INDYCAR milestones since it returned to the series schedule in 2017.
- In 2018, a second-place finish for Alexander Rossi and third for Scott Dixon was enough for Honda to clinch the 2018 INDYCAR Manufacturers’ Championship, the first in an ongoing streak of four consecutive manufacturers’ titles for the company.
- One year later, Takuma Sato won a thrilling night race, besting Ed Carpenter in a tense closing-lap battle. Honda went on to win a second consecutive Manufacturers’ Championship that season.
- Dixon scored his 50th career win in 2020 at World Wide Technology Raceway, in the opening race of a double-header weekend. He went on to claim his sixth NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship at the end of the season; with Honda winning a third consecutive Manufacturers’ title. Earlier this month, Dixon recorded his 53rd career victory in Nashville, moving him to sole possession of second on the all-time Indy car winners list.
