Will Power Earns 50th IndyCar Pole
MADISON, Ill. – Will Power joined the elite club of 50-time pole winners in Indy car history on Friday by winning the Verizon P1 Award for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Valvoline.
Power’s two-lap average speed of 189.642 mph on the Gateway Motorsports Park oval included a record lap of 189.709 mph (23.7206 seconds), breaking the 20-year-old track record set by Raul Boesel in 1997 (24.324 seconds, 187.963 mph).
Power, who won last week’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway, collected his sixth pole position of the season 50th of his 13-year Indy car career. It tied the 36-year-old Australian with Team Penske teammate Helio Castroneves for third place on the all-time list. The teammates trail only Mario Andretti (67) and A.J. Foyt (53).
Power led a Team Penske 1-2-3-4 sweep of the starting grid for Saturday’s race at Gateway Motorsports Park. He knocked his teammate and Verizon IndyCar Series championship leader Josef Newgarden off the pole. Newgarden had run a two-lap average of 188.316 mph.
Power had drawn the last position in the qualifying lineup and that gave him a big advantage at the end.
“When you qualify on a short oval, it’s always the best to go last,” Newgarden said. “You get the most rubber, you get the coolest track temp. I’m hoping next year they change that rule where you sort of get rewarded for performance in the way you order. It’s even worse if you’re first to go out, then it’s really bad on a short oval, especially when you have other rubber that’s laid down.
“I knew Will had a shot. I was hoping he wasn’t going to get it done, but I knew he had a great shot to do it so I’m not surprised by that, but obviously we have a great team effort with Team Penske. I think it was one, two, three, four, I think, so that obviously shows the strength of the team. It was quite a performance there, so we’re all trying to get the most out of it.”
Will Power celebrates after scoring the 50th pole of his Indy car career. (Al Steinberg Photo)
Power had the advantage but he wasn’t convinced he was guaranteed the pole.
“I think all my teammates are really fast,” Power said. “Josef was really quick. All I knew is that I had a very similar setup to him, and it was about getting the most out of it.
“I think once I saw my first lap, I thought, ‘Yeah, this is pretty strong and confident.’”
Castroneves was third with two laps at 187.457 mph and defending series champion Simon Pagenaud fourth at 186.747 mph.
“What a run,” Castroneves said. “We had a really fast car, but not enough for the pole. Still, we had a really fast car. The No. 3 Shell Fuel Rewards Chevrolet will definitely have a great starting spot, so it’s all about maintaining a good spot towards the front of tomorrow’s race. The track is really smooth and it’s great. I’m really excited for tomorrow night’s race at Gateway.”
Pagenaud was one of the early drivers to take a qualification attempt and set the pace early before being knocked down the lineup.
“I wish we could gone out a little later, but nothing I can do about that,” Pagenaud said. “The Menards Chevrolet felt very comfortable. I like how the track feels. They did a great job with it. We’ll start fourth, which is good, but I have my three Team Penske teammates in front of me, which will make it more difficult. And unfortunately, those aren’t the only cars to be concerned with. I think the race will be very competitive. Everyone will have to have complete focus and that’s not always the easiest thing. It’s not like Pocono where there are some long straights to take a little break.
“Turning 24-second laps is pretty quick, but we’re definitely looking forward to going for a win like we had at Phoenix.”
Ed Carpenter rounded out an all-Chevrolet top-five at 184.528 mph. That means Team Penske’s pole-winning driver was five miles per hour faster than the nearest non-Penske driver in the field.
Takuma Sato, winner of the 101st Indianapolis 500, was the fastest Honda at 184.186 mph followed by fellow Honda driver Scott Dixon, seventh with a two-lap average of 183.848 mph.
Sebastien Bourdais, who was involved in a massive crash during his qualification attempt for the 101st Indianapolis 500 on May 20, made his return to the series after recovering from multiple fractures of his pelvis and right hip. He qualified 19th with a four-lap average of 181.846 mph in a Honda.
“It was a disappointing qualifying run,” Bourdais said. “I knew coming in that it was going to be somewhat difficult. I don’t have the confidence and I didn’t get a good read on the qualifying trim in our simulation run in practice, so we stayed a bit careful with the balance of the car and I wasn’t aggressive enough with it. It’s a bit of a shame. The guys did a really good job and the car is actually pretty good in race trim, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”
This is the first Verizon IndyCar Series race at Gateway Motorsports Park since Helio Castroneves won the Emerson Indy 250 on Aug. 10, 2003.
Source :speedsport.com
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