Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Will Power leaves it late to defeat Rossi for Mid-Ohio IndyCar pole

Penske's Will Power stormed to pole position at Mid-Ohio with a late flying lap that proved nearly four tenths quicker than Andretti Autosport IndyCar rival Alexander Rossi's best effort

Rossi looked set to secure the top spot in the closing seconds of the Fast Six session, having shaved two tenths from his prior session-leading benchmark, lapping the 2.2-mile Mid-Ohio circuit in 1m05.531s.

But was Power was the last driver to set a flying lap and he powered to pole position with a 1m05.156s lap.

Championship leader Josef Newgarden secured third ahead of team-mate Simon Pagenaud to make it three Penske-run cars in the top four, while Dale Coyne Racing's Sebastian Bourdais and Chip Ganassi Racing's Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top six.

Bourdais and Rosenqvist decided to forego their first runs in the Fast Six in an attempt to save tyres for their final attempts, but were unable to get up to speed and were both over a second in arrears of Power's pole time.

Rosenquist was fortunate to make it to the Fast 12 following an issue after his Ganassi-run car entered its emergency mode as he exited the pits.

He was then able to restore the car to its normal qualifying settings and posted the fourth quickest time in his group one running.

Combined practice pacesetter Colton Herta failed to make it into the Fast Six by just 0.003, limiting him to seventh on the grid as a result, just ahead of reigning IndyCar champion Scott Dixon.

Jack Harvey will start an impressive ninth for Meyer-Shank Racing, ahead of both Schmidt Petersen Motorsport stablemates James Hinchcliffe and Marcus Ericsson, who could only manage 11th and 12th fastest behind Andretti's Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Both Rahal Letterman Lannigan Racing machines failed to reach the top 12, past winner Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato securing 15th and 17th respectively.

The returning RC Enerson - competing for Carlin this weekend - will start 22nd ahead of Tony Kanaan, having posted a time just three tenths slower than team-mate Max Chilton, who will start 16th.

Qualifying result

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m05.1569s
2 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 0.3748s
3 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 0.6316s
4 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 0.7389s
5 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1.0471s
6 Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1.3345s
7 Colton Herta Harding Racing Dallara/Honda 0.4081s
8 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 0.5430s
9 Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Dallara/Honda 0.5662s
10 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 0.5759s
11 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 0.5998s
12 Marcus Ericsson Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 0.8859s
13 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 0.7808s
14 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 0.6019s
15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 0.8176s
16 Max Chilton Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 0.8412s
17 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1.2154s
18 Ed Jones Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1.0231s
19 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 1.2587s
20 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1.0546s
21 Matheus Leist AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1.3919s
22 R.C. Enerson Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1.1627s
23 Tony Kanaan AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1.8922s


Be part of the Autosport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Rossi ends IndyCar move speculation with new Andretti deal
Next article IndyCar Mid-Ohio: Dixon beats Rosenqvist in Ganassi one-two

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Autosport Plus

Discover premium content
Subscribe