Kirkwood 'gave away a pole' with Fast Six wiggle in Toronto

On one hand, Kyle Kirkwood’s car control is an otherworldly thing to behold. On the other, the unplanned demonstration of drifting through Toronto’s Turn 8 at the start of his flying lap on Saturday ended any hope of earning pole position.

The visuals were remarkable, as the tail of the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda tried to catch and pass the front of the car, but Kirkwood kept it pointed in the right direction before opting to abandon the lap and park the machine on pit lane.

Floridia's street-circuit ace had been fastest on the run through the previous rounds of knockout qualifying and a proper battle with teammate Colton Herta – last year’s Toronto pole winner – was brewing until Kirkwood bounded over the inside of the curbing at Turn 8, launched the car, crashed down, and bottomed on the street below, which pitched the No. 27 into a big slide.

Herta delivered with a decisive pole in the No. 26 Andretti Honda while Kirkwood gritted his teeth and rued a mistake that will see him start from sixth in Sunday’s 90-lap contest.

“We definitely just gave away a pole, without a doubt,” he said. “Just started the lap. I just got a huge snap there. It's been understeering, and the one time I go through there for when it matters for pole, it bottoms and I get a huge snap. Unfortunately, it just feels like I’m throwing away poles left and right on street courses. That one didn't feel very good if I'm being honest.

“We'll get back, we'll look at it, figure out exactly what happened. Obviously, huge congrats – at least someone made up for it with Colton getting the pole there. Happy for the No. 26 car, but very, very disappointed with that performance during the Fast Six.”