Colton Herta secured pole position for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. In a thrilling Fast Six session, the Andretti Global driver was nearly two-tenths of a second quicker than a surprising David Malukas, who took second place. Kyle Kirkwood qualified third, followed by Christian Lundgaard, Graham Rahal and a disappointing Alex Palou.

The qualifying groups were fairly evenly matched, which set the stage for an exciting session.

At the start of qualifying, an unusual sight unfolded: most drivers immediately took to the track on the softer alternate tires—among them none other than Alex Palou. The early use of the softer compound was driven by the relatively cool conditions in Detroit, which made it harder to bring the tires up to optimal temperature. Additionally, heavy traffic was expected and with two runs on alternates, drivers increased their chances of setting a competitive lap.

In the first qualifying group, Will Power set the fastest time, clocking the first sub-1:01 lap of the weekend. The Penske driver was four-hundredths of a second quicker than Alex Palou, who for much of the session wasn’t on pace to advance to the Fast 12, but managed to pull it off on his final lap.

Christian Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong and a surprisingly strong Rinus VeeKay also advanced to the next round. Marcus Ericsson and Felix Rosenqvist, however, were surprise eliminations.

In the second qualifying group, several drivers encountered major issues. Nolan Siegel had to retire to the pits after just two laps due to an engine problem, while Josef Newgarden clipped the wall with his left-rear tire and was forced to retire early.

Despite only using one set of alternate tires, Colton Herta set the fastest time in this group, ahead of a surprising Graham Rahal in second. David Malukas and Christian Rasmussen also delivered surprise performances, followed by Kyle Kirkwood and Scott Dixon. Louis Foster narrowly missed out, while Pato O’Ward—the second-place driver in the championship—could only manage ninth in the session and will start 18th.

The Fast 12 again went to Herta, who edged out teammate Kirkwood by six-hundredths of a second. Malukas impressed with the third-fastest time, followed by Lundgaard, Palou and a strong-looking Rahal. VeeKay made a solid impression in his first race weekend with engineer Michael Cannon, setting the seventh-best time—just 0.025 seconds off Rahal’s lap. He outpaced both remaining Penske drivers: McLaughlin was eighth, ahead of Power.

The Firestone Fast Six could just as easily have been called the Fast Three—Palou, Rahal and Lundgaard had already used two fresh sets of alternate tires earlier in the session and had none left. Herta, Kirkwood and Malukas, on the other hand, still had a fresh set available—giving them a clear advantage.

Malukas was the first to put in a flying lap on fresh tires, but Herta and Kirkwood still had their runs to come. In the final minute, Herta matched Malukas’s pace through much of the lap, but gained significant time in Turn 7 and went nearly two-tenths quicker. Kirkwood looked even faster for most of his lap, but clipped the wall in the final corners and lost time, ending up third. That secured Herta’s first pole position of the season.

The starting grid will see some changes compared to the qualifying results. Due to unauthorized engine changes, both Rahal and Dixon have received six-place grid penalties.

Full results of the qualifying session at Detroit