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Bourdais Qualifies Third for Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

  • Sebastien Bourdais to start third, Ryan Hunter-Reay fourth on Sunday
  • James Hinchcliffe, Scott Dixon also advance to Firestone Fast Six final qualifying
  • Nine Honda drivers qualify in the top 12

Sebastien Bourdais, winner of the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, led the way for Honda today in Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying, and will start Sunday's Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama from the inside of the second row, third.

Bourdais will share the second row of the starting grid at Barber Motorsports Park with fourth-qualifying Ryan Hunter-Reay. James Hinchcliffe and Scott Dixon also advanced to the Firestone Fast Six final qualifying round, and will start fifth and sixth, respectively.

Honda drivers captured nine of the top 12 positions during the three sessions of "knockout" qualifying.  Marco Andretti will start seventh after his best qualifying result of 2018, with last week's winner at Long Beach, Alexander Rossi, completing the fourth row of the starting grid, eighth.  Robert Wickens led the rookie field for Honda in 10th, followed by fellow Honda rookie Zach Veach, 11th. Series sophomore Ed Jones rounds out the top 12 for Honda.  Sunday's 90-lap Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama starts at 3 p.m. EDT, with live television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.

Sebastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda) qualified third for Sunday's Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama: "It was almost perfect. I got every little bit of it I had and the SealMaster Honda was good but obviously not quite good enough - just a tenth [of a second] off [pole]. It's just super, super tight. I couldn't dial out the last little bit of understeer. It is what it is, but I'm pretty happy. I think you can win from anywhere if it rains. I think it will be pretty exciting. Starting from the front always helps, spray and all, so hopefully we can just get a clear run and get [a good result]."

Verizon IndyCar Series Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Circuit: Barber Motorsports Park (1.8-mile road course) Birmingham, Ala.
2017 Winner: Josef Newgarden (Team Penske) 108.809 mph average
Weather: Sunny, warm, 74 degrees F

Top-12 Qualifying Results:

Ps.

Driver      

Team

Manufacturer

Best Time

Notes

  1.

Josef Newgarden

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:07.4413

 mph average

  2.

Will Power

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:07.4541

+0.0128

  3.

Sebastien Bourdais

Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan      

Honda

1:07.5337

Fast Six Final Qualifying

  4.

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:07.7807

Fast Six Final Qualifying

  5.

James Hinchcliffe

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Honda

1:07.9472

Fast Six Final Qualifying

  6.

Scott Dixon

Chip Ganassi Racing

Honda

1:08.0303

Fast Six Final Qualifying

  7.

Marco Andretti

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:07.6027

2nd Round Qualifying

  8.

Alexander Rossi

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:07.7488

2nd Round Qualifying

  9.

Simon Pagenaud

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:07.8409

2nd Round Qualifying

10.

Robert Wickens-R

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Honda

1:07.8455

2nd Round Qualifying

11.

Zach Veach-R

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:07.9894

2nd Round Qualifying

12.

Ed Jones

Chip Ganassi Racing             

Honda

1:08.4386

2nd Round Qualifying

Other Honda Results

15.

Graham Rahal

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Honda

1:08.1038

1st Round, Group 1

16.

Zachary Claman DeMelo-R

Dale Coyne Racing                

Honda

1:08.5531

1st Round, Group 2

18.

Takuma Sato

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Honda

1:08.5676

1st Round, Group 2

 

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