Colton Herta Herta takes pole at Honda Indy Toronto as big names falter in qualifying

It all seems lined up for Colton Herta to win his first NTT IndyCar Series event in over two years.

Herta claimed pole position in qualifying at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto on Saturday at Exhibition Place, posting a fastest lap time of 59.5431 seconds.

Better yet, Andretti Global teammate Kyle Kirkwood will join him in the front row of Sunday's race after placing second at 59.6375, allowing the team to employ some mutually beneficial strategy.

But Herta, who dropped to second overall from pole in Toronto in 2022 and placed third after starting 14th last year, knows the 85-lap street course can still present plenty of twists.

"I think it should be a fun and exciting race for everybody," Herta said. "This race has giant windows, two-stopper, so a lot of strategy comes into play, which if you're starting up front you don't want, but it's how this race is.

"It's always exciting, so hopefully it's another exciting one and we can capitalize on the opportunities and have a win tomorrow."

Herta has come close to ending his win drought with a handful of top-five finishes and eight top-10's to date this season.

The 24-year-old American also claimed two prior pole positions but failed to finish in the top 10 either time.

"That's the bad thing about getting poles, right? You can only break even. You can't go further up. But it's something that I want really bad," Herta said. "We're putting ourselves in the positions that we have to to win. It just hasn't fallen our way."

Kirkwood, a 25-year-old American, is pursuing his third career win.

"Glad that we got the front-row lockout. That's huge for Andretti Global," Kirkwood said. "Of course I want the pole, but if I'm not to get it obviously a teammate's the next best thing."