Will Power sets up for turn 5 during qualifying for Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series race at Road America. Photo by Joe Skibinski
It’s not often that a Verizon IndyCar Series team puts one over on the competition, but Will Power and his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske crew did just that to win the Verizon P1 Award and will start on pole position in Sunday’s KOHLER Grand Prix at Road America.
Power saved a fresh set of Firestone’s faster alternate tires for the final segment of knockout qualifying – appropriately named the Firestone Fast Six – and laid down a lap of 1 minute, 42.2105 seconds (141.379 mph) to secure the top qualifying position. It is the 44th pole for the 35-year-old Australian, ranking fifth on the all-time Indy car list and pulling him within three of teammate Helio Castroneves for fourth place.
Power used the same set of the softer alternate tires in the first two qualifying segments, allowing him to hold back a new set for the final-round battle for the pole. The gamble paid off.
“If we lost pole in the (Firestone) Fast Six, it would look pretty bad because we had new tires,” Power said. “But (Scott) Dixon was pretty quick and so was (Tony Kanaan), but (I’m) just stoked to be on pole.
“It’s going to be a tough track to pass on. Obviously it’s a tough track to save a lap of fuel as well, so I think there will be a lot of similar strategies. We’re starting at the right end.”
Power’s pole position gives Team Penske 242 in Indy car competition – more than any other team – and is the organization’s 499th in all forms of motorsports. The team is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2016.
Dixon, the reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion, qualified second in the No. 9 Clorox Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing Teams with a lap of 1:42.3759 (141.150 mph) on the historic 4.014-mile permanent road course that is hosting Indy cars for a 26th time but the first since 2007. Dixon, currently second to Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud in the point standings, equaled his best season starting position.
“Power did a hell of a job to use the used (set of tires) in Q2 and then obviously have a new tire for Q3, and to be honest I just messed up my lap,” Dixon said. “It’s crazy, on such a great track we still often go out together and get traffic, so I had to wave off the first lap and on the second lap I just lost two, three tenths in turn 12, which cost us the pole. The car was super-fast and (I’m) just frustrated that we didn’t get what I thought we should have been able to.”
Kanaan, Dixon’s teammate, was third in the No. 10 NTT Data Chevrolet (1:42.7279, 140.667 mph), with Pagenaud fourth in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevy (1:42.8573, 140.490 mph). Row 3 of the 22-car starting grid was filled by Castroneves in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevy (1:42.9449, 140.370 mph) and Graham Rahal in the No. 15 Gehl/D-A Lubricant Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (1:43.7782, 139.243 mph).
All the drivers who reached the Firestone Fast Six have raced Indy cars at Road America before, which Rahal believes provided an advantage.
“I think it does,” Rahal said. “Just doing laps and that sort of thing is good for everybody, for sure.
“But this weekend, I’ve got to tell you, I haven’t raced on a racetrack this difficult in a long time because it seems like every time this track gives you a little something different. It’s just always a challenge.”
A trio of Verizon IndyCar Series rookies notched career-best qualifying efforts today. Max Chilton qualified seventh (1:42.7519, 140.634 mph) in the No. 8 Gallagher Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, Conor Daly was ninth (1:43.1073, 140.149 mph) in the No. 18 Jonathan Byrd’s Hospitality Honda for Dale Coyne Racing and Spencer Pigot 17th in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet (1:43.6432, 139.424 mph). Alexander Rossi, the rookie who won last month’s 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500, qualified 16th.
Pagenaud takes an 80-point lead into Sunday’s 50-lap race.
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Road America – Elkart Lake, WI
KOHLER Grand Prix – June 25, 2016
Saturday’s Qualifying Results
1. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:42.2105 (141.379)
2. (9) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 01:42.3759 (141.150)
3. (10) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 01:42.7279 (140.667)
4. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 01:42.8573 (140.490)
5. (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 01:42.9449 (140.370)
6. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:43.7782 (139.243)
7. (8) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 01:42.7519 (140.634)
8. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 01:42.8318 (140.525)
9. (18) Conor Daly, Honda, 01:43.1073 (140.149)
10. (26) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 01:43.2001 (140.023)
11. (83) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 01:43.2649 (139.935)
12. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 01:43.3291 (139.848)
13. (7) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 01:43.4024 (139.749)
14. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 01:44.3570 (138.471)
15. (14) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:43.5357 (139.569)
16. (98) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 01:45.0840 (137.513)
17. (20) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 01:43.6432 (139.424)
18. (41) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 01:45.5110 (136.956)
19. (19) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 01:43.6672 (139.392)
20. (21) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 04:19.1862 (55.753)
21. (27) Marco Andretti, Honda, 01:43.7289 (139.309)
22. (5) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 04:29.0408 (53.711)
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