IndyCar Gateway: Power and Sato take pole positions
Team Penske-Chevrolet’s Will Power will lead the field to the green flag for this afternoon’s race at World Wide Technology Raceway, while last week’s Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato of Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda heads the grid for tomorrow’s race.
The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 – this year split into two 250-mile races – saw IndyCar again adopt the oval qualifying system whereby each car gets a two-lap run, with everyone’s first lap deciding the grid for Saturday’s race, the second deciding the grid for Sunday’s round. Parc ferme rules also apply, so the cars qualified with the same setup with which they will race.
Power, who finished yesterday’s practice in second place, showed huge confidence on his opening lap to nail the first lap in the 182mph bracket, and actually went marginally quicker on his second lap, but was surpassed in that by thousandths in teammate Josef Newgarden’s case and hundredths in Sato’s case. Nonetheless, Power has now claimed the 59th pole of his IndyCar career.
Patricio O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren SP ensured it was a Chevrolet lockout for this afternoon’s race, beating the Chip Ganassi Racing Hondas of Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson. Sato was marginally quicker than Newgarden who had a slightly wild moment on his first lap which resulted in sixth on the grid, but he will join Sato on the front row for tomorrow’s event.
Jack Harvey’s impressive pace in the Meyer Shank Racing-Honda continues, and he beat all his semi-teammates from Andretti Autosport to nail seventh and fifth on the grid.
After a lot of trouble in practice, Ryan Hunter-Reay did well to rebound and rebuild his confidence, but Graham Rahal who was slow yesterday is slow again today, feeling his car lacked rear grip.
| Grids for Bommarito Automotive Group 500 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Qualifying for Race 1 | |||
| Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 182.394mph |
| Pato O'Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | 182.076mph |
| Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 182.006mph |
| Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 181.364mph |
| Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Honda | 181.286mph |
| Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 181.222mph |
| Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 180.915mph |
| Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 180.705mph |
| Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 180.695mph |
| Colton Herta | Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda | 180.650mph |
| Alex Palou | Dale Coyne Racing w/ Team Goh | Honda | 180.597mph |
| Felix Rosenqvist | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 180.295mph |
| Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 180.133mph |
| Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 180.070mph |
| Oliver Askew | Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | 180.053mph |
| Conor Daly | Carlin Racing | Chevrolet | 179.986mph |
| Ed Carpenter | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 179.521mph |
| Charlie Kimball | AJ Foyt Racing | Chevrolet | 179.351mph |
| Marco Andretti | Andretti Herta Autosport | Honda | 178.197mph |
| Santino Ferrucci | Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser-Sullivan | Honda | 178.188mph |
| Tony Kanaan | AJ Foyt Racing | Chevrolet | 177.663mph |
| Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Honda | 176.595mph |
| Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 176.014mph |
| Qualifying for Race 2 | |||
| Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Honda | 182.499mph |
| Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 182.477mph |
| Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 182.474mph |
| Pato O'Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | 182.178mph |
| Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 181.800mph |
| Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 181.735mph |
| Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 181.723mph |
| Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 181.457mph |
| Felix Rosenqvist | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 181.387mph |
| Colton Herta | Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda | 181.164mph |
| Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 180.825mph |
| Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 180.618mph |
| Oliver Askew | Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | 180.579mph |
| Alex Palou | Dale Coyne Racing w/ Team Goh | Honda | 180.560mph |
| Conor Daly | Carlin Racing | Chevrolet | 180.374mph |
| Santino Ferrucci | Dale Coyne Racing w/ Vasser-Sullivan | Honda | 180.197mph |
| Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 179.791mph |
| Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 178.690mph |
| Tony Kanaan | AJ Foyt Racing | Chevrolet | 178.630mph |
| Marco Andretti | Andretti Herta Autosport | Honda | 178.563mph |
| Charlie Kimball | AJ Foyt Racing | Chevrolet | 178.295mph |
| Ed Carpenter | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 177.728mph |
| Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Honda | 176.803mph |
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About this article
| Series | IndyCar |
| Event | Gateway |
| Author | David Malsher-Lopez |
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