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Qualifying report

Pocono IndyCar: Top 10 quotes after qualifying

Takuma Sato took pole position for tomorrow’s ABC Supply 500 Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway

Polesitter Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport Honda

Polesitter Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport Honda

Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images

Polesitter Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport Honda
Polesitter Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport Honda
Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Chevrolet
Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
Alexander Rossi, Herta - Andretti Autosport Honda
Alexander Rossi, Herta - Andretti Autosport Honda
Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport Honda, Gabby Chaves, Harding Racing Chevrolet
Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Cla#DriverTimeGapMph
1 26 japan Takuma Sato 1'21.9526   219.639
"I'm really happy. I always have enjoyed Pocono in the past years. I've had a difficult experience, but I've always enjoyed it. We haven't had a win here yet and hopefully we can get that with Expedite Home Loans this weekend. That's why putting down on pole here is something very special. Especially after Indy 500, coming to another 500 race, with entire crew from the No. 26 and Expedite Home Loans, who is family of Ruoff Home Mortgage, which was on our car for the Indy 500. The team did an outstanding job. I have to say big thank you to Michael (Andretti, team owner) and all Andretti Autosport. I am very happy."
2 1 france Simon Pagenaud 1'22.0437 0.0911 219.395
"Almost. We were just a little short. Actually, the DXC Technology Chevrolet was very enjoyable. The balance was perfect. Ben (Bretzman), my race engineer, and the whole crew have worked very hard on this car and it's great when that pays off. Starting position here isn't quite what it is at some other places since the race is 500 miles. A lot of things can happen. But the good thing is that the car has good balance and worked well in traffic during the morning session. I think we'll have a good car for the race. I'm definitely looking forward to it." 
3 83 united_states Charlie Kimball 1'22.0536 0.1010 219.369
"I honestly didn't expect our run to be that good. I'm really proud of that effort from the whole crew. Everyone from Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing really put their heads down between practice and qualifying and made some pretty significant changes that put us right there in the window. Having watched the 10 car run before us I knew the speed was there, we just had to go out and get it. Honestly I'm relieved with how much better the car was and I'm just really proud of my guys."
4 10 brazil Tony Kanaan 1'22.1874 0.2348 219.012
"I'm pleased with our run - I think we were pretty competitive. That's the fastest we've gone all weekend, so I'm happy. I think the NTT car was really balanced and didn't have anything more for the setup we had. It's one of those things we did everything we could and left it all out there. I like qualifying sessions like that regardless of the outcome. It was a good one."
5 12 australia Will Power 1'22.3092 0.3566 218.688
"Qualifying was pretty good for the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet team. We definitely were fast but a few cars definitely had a little more than us. We are going to work on the car a bit before the next practice and will spend the session trying to find more speed." 
6 98 united_states Alexander Rossi 1'22.3338 0.3812 218.622
"I had a lot more understeer (in qualifying) than this morning in practice. I was prepared for it, but it really took off in Turn 1 on Lap 1, so I was actually fortunate to not be in a worse situation. Once we made adjustments inside the car everything was fine, so it was an opportunity missed for sure. At the end of my run, I think we had the fastest single lap, which is some sort of consolation prize. Right now, I think we are competitive. I had a feeling an Andretti Autosport car had a good shot at being on pole, and that's what happened. Thoughts are with Ryan (Hunter-Reay) right now and hope he gets the all clear to come back tomorrow. I know we have a fast race car, so we'll see what happens." 
7 15 united_states Graham Rahal 1'22.5313 0.5787 218.099
"It was a good, solid run for us, but we're obviously very lucky because we had a pretty bad puncture. You can hear the air coming out from the puncture from here, it's so big. The car balance wasn't bad in Turn 3, but I noticed in Turn 1 that there was a lot of bottoming, which was upsetting the balance on entry. We have a right rear that's flat, so we're just lucky the tire didn't go and the car is in one piece. It looks like by the time I finished the run it was down six pounds on air.  We didn't have the easiest run of it in the first practice, but we found some things that helped us late in the session. Now we can turn our attention to putting a good car on the track tomorrow and trying to get a win. This is an important race for us, a huge race for us in the championship." 
8 88 colombia Gabby Chaves 1'22.5612 0.6086 218.020
"That was good and I am certainly happy with the progress we've made. I came into this weekend with the team and we said we wanted to improve our qualifying. We've had pretty good race cars, and pretty good races. We want to be overall better. First way to do that was improve our qualifying and we did that this weekend."
9 9 new_zealand Scott Dixon 1'22.6376 0.6850 217.819
 "We had the same problems we had this morning in practice where we just couldn't finish turn one correctly. But we had to go out first in qualifying and you just never know what you're going to get with the track and conditions. All in all it was an average run and qualifying isn't that important here with 500 miles ahead of you on Sunday. It's a long race and hopefully we can keep the NTT Data car up front when it counts."
10 8 united_kingdom Max Chilton 1'22.6644 0.7118 217.748
 "I just didn't get the laps we needed for whatever reason. I had a snowplow moment and was trying to do everything I could do to get our Gallagher car right. I was adjusting the car, but when you have to make that many adjustments in one lap, something is off. Luckily for us it's not terrible and it's a long race here at Pocono tomorrow. You can win from any spot on the grid."

 

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