Having raced on nearby Belle Isle Island from 1992, Penske Entertainment Corp revived the downtown circuit for the IndyCar event with a short and sharp 1.7-mile, nine-turn layout in the shadow of the General Motors Renaissance Center.
Following up his Indianapolis 500 pole, Palou set the early pace in the Fast Six shootout with 1m03.7423s but was soon toppled by Team Penske’s Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden and then his team-mate Scott McLaughlin with 1m02.4743s.
On his second run, Palou snatched P1 back with 1m01.8592s, with first Romain Grosjean (Andretti Autosport) and then McLaughlin grabbing P2 with 1m02.1592s, which was three tenths off pole.
Behind Grosjean, who brushed the wall off Turn 2 but continued, Scott Dixon will start fourth for Ganassi, ahead of Newgarden and Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi).
Ericsson overshot Turn 8 early on and was almost collected by Grosjean as he spun around to extricate himself from the runoff.
Will Power, Team Penske Chevro …