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
MADISON, Ill. (Aug. 20, 2022) – 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 Race 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
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
25th Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda
R – Rookie
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship (unofficial, after 15 of 17 rounds)
Honda 1,092 points
Chevrolet 1,057
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers’ Championship Standings
- Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP 435 points [2 wins]
- Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 425 [2 wins]
- Josef Newgarden, Team Penske 413 [2 wins]
- Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 392 [1 win]
Quotes
Marcus Ericsson (#8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) will start second, career-best INDYCAR start: “
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Honda) will start fifth: “
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.
Next
After a run of seven races through July and August, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES now takes one week off before concluding with a tow-race swing to the US West Coast, starting with the Sept. 4 Grand Prix of Portland in Portland, Oregon and then concluding the 2022 season on Sunday, September 11, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.