Will Power enters the turn 8-9 esses during practice for Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. Photo by Bret Kelley
Something about Will Power, Team Penske and Barber Motorsports Park go well together in Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying.
Power negotiated the 2.3-mile, 17-turn permanent road course in 1 minute, 6.9614 seconds (123.653 mph) in the Firestone Fast Six, the climactic round of knockout qualifying. It earned the 36-year-old Australian the Verizon P1 Award and his fourth pole position at the track for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
Power edged a pair of teammates and past Barber pole winners for qualifying honors. Helio Castroneves was second in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet (1:07.1429, 123.319 mph) and Simon Pagenaud third in the No. 1 Team Penske Chevrolet (1:07.3817, 122.882 mph).
“Congratulation to Will,” said Pagenaud, the defending Barber race winner and reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion. “That was great qualifying and phenomenal for the race team: 1-2-3.”
Power’s 46th career pole – fifth all time – was the seventh for Team Penske in eight events at Barber Motorsports Park. It was also the 248th in Indy car history for the team, which Power said is where it all starts.
“First, it’s having a very good team and car, definitely working well this weekend,” said Power, the 2014 series champion who has Barber race wins in 2011 and ’12. “Kind of focusing very well and making sure I’m looking at the right things. Felt like I had a much better car on used tires. I think that’s kind of where we’ve been going wrong. Yeah, just very good result.”
Scott Dixon qualified fourth in the No. 9 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing (1:07.5817, 122.518 mph). Ryan Hunter-Reay, the only non-Penske driver to ever win a pole at Barber, was fifth in the No. 28 Honda for Andretti Autosport (1:07.6851, 122.331 mph).
“This weekend, we struggled with just keeping up with the car,” said Dixon, a six-time podium finisher at Barber but never a race winner at the track. “It’s been tough in the conditions out here, but I think that was kind of the best we could hope for in qualifying. Pretty happy with that. Penskes have been strong all weekend and I think we’re in a good starting position.”
James Hinchcliffe, winner of the most recent Verizon IndyCar Series race, the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 9, qualified sixth in the No. 5 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda (1:07.8710, 121.996 mph).
Championship points leader Sebastien Bourdais qualified 12th in the No. 18 Honda, one position behind his Dale Coyne Racing teammate, rookie Ed Jones. It’s the best qualifying effort for Jones, the driver of the No. 19 Honda, in his three Verizon IndyCar Series races thus far.
Verizon IndyCar Series
Barber Motorsports Park – Birminghma, AL
Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama – April 22, 2017
Patients, who were not comfortable with the cheapest cialis india medication at a descent discounted price. One has to apply it before getting involved in sexual viagra pills canada intercourse. Even if you cialis prescriptions find a pharmacy that ships the medication, it will be confiscated by customs and you cannot get your money back. In order to fight against the strongest erectile dysfunction, the impotent male cialis online aimhousepatong.com has to be aware of all the available solutions, Silagra 100 mg Tablets offer safe, cost effective and effective medication for the treatment of erectile dysfunction is safe and effective enough for you which should at least cure the problem in a better way. Saturday’s Qualifying Results
1. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:06.9614 (123.653)
2. (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 01:07.1429 (123.319)
3. (1) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 01:07.3817 (122.882)
4. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 01:07.5817 (122.518)
5. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 01:07.6851 (122.331)
6. (5) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 01:07.8710 (121.996)
7. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 01:07.5941 (122.496)
8. (7) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 01:07.9467 (121.860)
9. (8) Max Chilton, Honda, 01:07.9788 (121.803)
10. (10) Tony Kanaan, Honda, 01:08.0305 (121.710)
11. (19) Ed Jones, Honda, 01:08.2034 (121.402)
12. (18) Sebastien Bourdais, Honda, 01:08.2726 (121.279)
13. (27) Marco Andretti, Honda, 01:07.5405 (122.593)
14. (26) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:07.6928 (122.317)
15. (83) Charlie Kimball, Honda, 01:07.7033 (122.298)
16. (14) Carlos Munoz, Chevrolet, 01:07.7007 (122.303)
17. (20) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 01:07.9211 (121.906)
18. (98) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 01:07.7483 (122.217)
19. (21) Zach Veach, Chevrolet, 01:08.4681 (120.932)
20. (4) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 01:08.0104 (121.746)
21. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:08.0499 (121.675)
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.