ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Colton Herta’s rebound from adversity began by winning the pole for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Herta was fastest during Saturday’s Firestone Fast Six qualifying round with a lap at 1:00.3210 around the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street course. That knocked fellow Honda driver Jack Harvey of Meyer-Shank Racing off the top spot on the timing sheet in the final seconds of qualifications.

It was Herta’s fifth NTT IndyCar Series pole. His father, Bryan Herta, is calling his son’s race strategy at Andretti Autosport this season. Bryan Herta won the pole in St. Petersburg in 2005.

“I think the first place that happened was probably Laguna Seca, maybe Road America,” Colton Herta said. “It’s cool. It seems like we’re good at the same tracks. He had a pole in Ohio. I had a pole in Ohio. He has a pole at Portland. I have a pole at Portland. He has a pole here; I have a pole here. Weird how that works.

“It’s cool to kind of carry on the legacy as best I can. More importantly getting the job done for myself and my team. I think we did just that today.

“It’s going to be an awesome race tomorrow, interesting, two-stop race,” Herta continued. “I need to do more research on that tonight.

Two-time St. Petersburg winner Josef Newgarden was third at 1:00.6078 followed by Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud at 1:00.6353.

Four-time Champ Car Series champion Sebastien Bourdais was fifth in A.J. Foyt’s No. 14 Chevrolet at 1:01.0017 with Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward rounding out the Fast Six at 1:01.0799.

The top-six were separated by .2411 seconds.

Rinus VeeKay was the first to miss the Fast Six at 1:00.4858 with six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon seventh at 1:00.4997.

Two-time St. Petersburg winner Will Power also failed to make the Fast Six. In fact, he failed to make it out of the first session for the first time since July of 2019 in Toronto, Ontario. It is the first time in his career he has failed to make the Firestone Fast Six at St. Petersburg.

IndyCar Series rookie driver Jimmie Johnson, a seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, starts 23rd in the 24-car field at 1:01.8364 in the No. 48 Carvana Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dalton Kellett of A.J. Foyt Racing was the slowest out of 24 cars at 1:092.3396.

The margin between the fastest and slowest cars are .17955 seconds.

Herta finished 22nd in the 24-car field last Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park after he was part of the massive crash in turn five on the opening lap that also involved Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Felix Rosenqvist.

Now that Herta is starting on the pole, he can start to make up the gap that was created from last week’s crash. He’ll also have clear sailing ahead at the start, allowing him to avoid the traffic that has been an issue on the treacherous street course.

“I think it’s probably really important to have track position,” Herta said. “We’ve seen it in the past. But it’s not to say that it’s hard to pass – it’s impossible to pass, rather.

“I think the biggest thing is going to be who can make the best fuel number and who can go a lap longer or shorter depending on how quickly you get the tires up to temp. I think that’s going to be the name of the game for tomorrow.

“We don’t know. We thought the tires were fine last year until we got to the restarts. There was a huge amount of marbles, very low grip. That could happen again. We saw how many yellows that caused. It seems like the tires might be a little bit different this year, but you can’t be too sure until you’re in the race.”

For Harvey, he nearly claimed his first NTT IndyCar Series pole. This is the third time he has qualified second in his career.

“It’s nice to share the front row with our pseudo teammate Colton Herta,” Harvey said of Herta as his team shares an engineering alliance with Andretti Autosport. “I never know how to describe that relationship.

“I think it’s massive to start up front. We were looking at strategy before. With them shortening the race, whatnot, it looks like going to be a two-stopper. I think Colton said it really well. I think having the clear track, we hope just to stretch our legs, try, and hit a good fuel number, undercut by a lap, overcut by a lap. The further you get up to the front, it’s harder to make those moves, especially when it’s your teammate because you know what strategy they’re going to be on as well.

“It never hurts to be starting at the front, mate. We’ll have to wait and see what happens to the tires. Restarts last year were typically difficult. I think the first one was fine. When they were consecutive like they were for that stint, it made it pretty tricky.

“I think we just want to have a smart, sensible race, get the season carrying on in this good way that we’ve found.”