Will Power takes Indianapolis road course pole in IndyCar
Will Power took a convincing pole position for IndyCar's Indianapolis road course race, while Juan Pablo Montoya made the top five on his comeback
Power completed a sweep of being fastest in both practice sessions and each of the sections of qualifying, as he lowered the track lap record yet again with a 1m07.7044s.
Montoya marked his first outing of the year with fifth on the grid, as four of the five Team Penske entrants made the top six.
Helio Castroneves, who did just one run in each of the first two segments of qualifying, qualified second, more than four tenths behind Power, while Josef Newgarden was third.
The four Penske drivers were joined by Scott Dixon and Sebastien Bourdais at the front of the field, as they took fourth and sixth respectively.
Championship leader and two-time Indy road course winner Simon Pagenaud just missed the top six pole shootout, after he was knocked out by Bourdais in the final moments of the second part of qualifying. Pagenaud's Chevrolet-powered Dallara was plagued with understeer on the soft tyre during the session.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was the top Andretti Autosport driver, qualifying eighth, beating Alexander Rossi by less than a hundredth of a second.
James Hinchcliffe, Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan all also failed to progress beyond the second round.
Graham Rahal, who suffered from fuel issues in practice, was unable to find much pace in his group, and will start on the penultimate row on the grid.
Other notable names who missed the second group of qualifying included Ganassi's Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball. Conor Daly also missed the cut, as his session was disrupted following a pit limiter problem that resulted in him receiving penalties for speeding.
Mikhail Aleshin also was knocked out early, after he spun coming out of Turn 4, as was Spencer Pigot, who was unable to translate his rapid practice speed into a strong qualifying.
QUALIFYING RESULTS:
Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Car |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | 1m06.2254s | Dallara/Chevrolet |
2 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m06.4123s | Dallara/Honda |
3 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | 1m06.4401s | Dallara/Honda |
4 | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1m06.5291s | Dallara/Honda |
5 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Herta | 1m06.5595s | Dallara/Honda |
6 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | 1m06.7562s | Dallara/Honda |
7 | Charlie Kimball | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m06.5404s | Dallara/Honda |
8 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 1m06.6074s | Dallara/Chevrolet |
9 | Will Power | Team Penske | 1m06.6145s | Dallara/Chevrolet |
10 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | 1m06.6222s | Dallara/Honda |
11 | Tony Kanaan | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m06.6262s | Dallara/Honda |
12 | Sebastien Bourdais | Dale Coyne Racing | 1m06.7853s | Dallara/Honda |
13 | Ed Jones | Dale Coyne Racing | 1m07.5832s | Dallara/Honda |
14 | Carlos Munoz | AJ Foyt Enterprises | 1m07.3783s | Dallara/Chevrolet |
15 | J.R. Hildebrand | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1m07.6931s | Dallara/Chevrolet |
16 | Mikhail Aleshin | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1m07.3893s | Dallara/Honda |
17 | Conor Daly | AJ Foyt Enterprises | 1m07.7977s | Dallara/Chevrolet |
18 | Takuma Sato | Andretti Autosport | 1m07.4699s | Dallara/Honda |
19 | Spencer Pigot | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1m07.8442s | Dallara/Chevrolet |
20 | Max Chilton | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m07.5333s | Dallara/Honda |
21 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | 1m08.0439s | Dallara/Chevrolet |
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