Simon Pagenaud navigates the esses during qualifying for Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series season finale at Sonoma Raceway. Photo by Richard Dowdy
Simon Pagenaud wasn’t about to let up, even with a generous lead in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship heading into the last race of 2016, the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma.
The Team Penske driver continued his qualifying mastery and will start from pole position in Sunday’s season finale, winning the Verizon P1 Award today at Sonoma Raceway. Pagenaud’s lap of 1 minute, 16.2565 seconds (112.594 mph) in the Firestone Fast Six – the third and final round of knockout qualifying – earned the Frenchman his seventh pole of the season and extended his points lead to 44 over teammate Will Power.
With Sunday’s 85-lap race on the 2.385-mile, 11-turn permanent road course paying double points, Pagenaud needs to finish fifth or better to clinch his first career championship.
“Today I just think we just, again, showed strength,” Pagenaud said. “That’s what it was all about, to show if we are to win the championship, we deserved it on many points.”
Pagenaud, who broke Power’s 2015 track record in Segment 1 of qualifying with a lap of 1:16.2530 (112.599 mph), led a Team Penske sweep of the top four qualifying positions. It provided a bookend to the season since the Penske foursome accomplished the same feat in qualifying at the season opener, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“(Qualifying) was about preparing the car for the red Firestone tires,” Pagenaud said, “which we know I’m always more comfortable on those tires so I can always extract a little bit more from myself.
“We had good balance on the car. The first lap we put the red Firestone tires on, I went on the radio and said, ‘Wow, this is going to be good.’ We were able to replicate the lap time every time. Unbelievable that we could actually replicate the lap time in the Fast Six with used tires.”
Helio Castroneves, the 2008 Sonoma winner, will start second after logging a lap of 1:16.4134 (112.362 mph) in the Firestone Fast Six. Juan Pablo Montoya will start third (1:16.5400, 112.177 mph).
Power, a three-time Sonoma race winner and five-time pole sitter at the track, was fourth (1:16.6659, 111.992 mph). The 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion is the only driver who could overtake Pagenaud, but knows the task became more difficult today.
“That’s all I could do in qualifying, that was everything I had and the car had,” Power said. “It’s a long race. I think it’s going to be a race of degradation. It’s going to be really interesting the way the tires go.
“Last thing we need now is a straightforward race because Simon will be tough to beat if that’s the case. Honestly, I need to win the race to win the championship, and he has to have a bad day.”
The pole position is the 245th in Indy car history for Team Penske, celebrating its 50th anniversary this season. Pagenaud’s seven pole positions are the most in a season in the era of the current Dallara IR-12 chassis and most since Power collected eight poles in 2011.
Graham Rahal was the top non-Penske qualifier, as he timed in fifth (1:16.7149, 111.921 mph). Ryan Hunter-Reay was sixth for Andretti Autosport (1:16.9132, 111.632 mph).
Scott Dixon, the two-time defending Sonoma winner and reigning series champion, barely missed reaching the Firestone Fast Six and will start seventh.
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Sonoma Raceway – Sonoma, CA
GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma – Sept. 17, 2016
Saturday’s Qualifying Results
1. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 01:16.2565 (112.594)
2. (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 01:16.4134 (112.362)
3. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 01:16.5400 (112.177)
4. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:16.6659 (111.992)
5. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:16.7149 (111.921)
6. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 01:16.9132 (111.632)
7. (9) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 01:16.5700 (112.133)
8. (98) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 01:16.5840 (112.112)
9. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 01:16.6115 (112.072)
10. (21) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 01:16.8142 (111.776)
11. (7) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 01:16.8909 (111.665)
12. (83) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 01:16.9627 (111.561)
13. (10) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 01:16.9481 (111.582)
14. (27) Marco Andretti, Honda, 01:16.9288 (111.610)
15. (14) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:16.9661 (111.556)
16. (26) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 01:17.0314 (111.461)
17. (41) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 01:17.0823 (111.387)
18. (8) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 01:17.1310 (111.317)
19. (20) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 01:17.3052 (111.066)
20. (5) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 01:17.1926 (111.228)
21. (18) Conor Daly, Honda, 01:17.6771 (110.535)
22. (19) R.C. Enerson, Honda, 01:17.3264 (111.036)
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