Rahal put down a flying lap of 58.3195s to best the 27-car field at the 1.964-mile, 12-turn circuit. It is the second time this season Rahal has captured the top spot, which he last accomplished in 2009.
Rahal set his pole-winning time on a set of primary, black sidewall tyres and despite the other five drivers swapping to alternate, red sidewall tyres, no one was able to dethrone Rahal.
The best of the rest was Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who was 0.033s off the pace.
Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta qualified third, followed by the Chip Ganassi Racing duo of Scott Dixon and Alex Palou. Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward closed out the group’s running in sixth.
The top 12 session was interrupted by a red flag less than three minutes in after Josef Newgarden buried his #2 Team Penske Chevrolet into the tyre barriers at Turn 12.
The Tennessee native, who admitted it was self-inflicted, dropped his left side wheels into the dirt on the exit of Turn 11, which resulted in a broken steering gear-shifter. It put an end to his qualifying effort and he will start 12th.
Upon the resumption, McLaughlin went quickest at 58.0777s, followed by Herta, O’Ward, Dixon, Palou and Rahal.
Beyond Newgarden, others that failed to make it through included his team-mate, Will Power, who missed the cut by 0.0531s. Power will start seventh.
Callum Ilott (Juncos Hollinger Racing), Alexander Rossi (Arrow McLaren), Marcus Ericsson (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Felix Rosenqvist (Arrow McLaren) also didn’t make it through.
Rosenqvist reported an issue and wasn’t able to make a final attempt to advance.
Source: Autosport