Qualifying report
IndyCar Road America
Power beats Dixon to take pole at Road America
Team Penske-Chevrolet’s Will Power took the risk of running used tires in Q2 to save a fresh set of red tires for the Firestone Fast Six and it was a move that earned him pole ahead of Scott Dixon.
David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: Jul 7, 2016, 9:08 PM
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Power’s fastest time was 1min42.2105sec, an average of 141.379mph, and edged pole for the Kohler Grand Prix by 0.1654sec to clinch the 44th pole position of his Indy car career.
Dixon in the Chip Ganassi Racing-Chevy was left frustrated as he felt in retrospect that he too should have run used tires in Q2 and preserved a new set of reds for the final shootout. His Q2 pace suggested that was the case, as he set fastest lap of the weekend – a 1min42.1451sec.
Tony Kanaan was third despite completing only one flying lap following an electrical issue with his steering-wheel, and therefore not having his tires fully up to temperature. It was therefore a great effort to beat the Penskes of Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves into fourth and fifth.
Graham Rahal was the top Honda runner in sixth place, having taken no real shot at pole, instead electing to save his red tires for the race.
Max Chilton scored the best starting position of his career, taking seventh on the grid for Ganassi, although he felt that Power had held him up in the Q2 segment and possibly prevented him from reaching the Firestone Fast Six.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was fastest of the Andretti Autosport-Honda quartet, claiming eighth ahead of Conor Daly who, like Chilton, grabbed the best grid slot of his career.
Mikhail Aleshin was best of the drivers who didn’t escape their respective groups in Q1, so will roll off 13th. His Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda teammate James Hinchcliffe will start last, after having his two best laps deleted in Q1, as he wrestled with no shifting lights on his dashboard, and inadvertently held up Alex Rossi and Juan Pablo Montoya. That consigned the Andretti and Penske drivers to 14th and 16th respectively.
Josef Newgarden, still hurting from his Texas Motor Speedway shunt, with a plate in his shoulder holding his right clavicle together, will start 20th after he, like Hinchcliffe, lost his two best laps. The American spun his Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy at the Carousel, bringing Q1 Group 2 to a halt a minute early.
After promising pace in practice, AJ Foyt Racing-Honda duo Takuma Sato and Jack Hawksworth could manage only 15th and 18th.
IndyCar 2016 - Road America - Qualifications P.N°DriverTeam (Engine)Time 1 12 
Will Power 
Penske (C) 1:42.2105 2 9 
Scott Dixon 
Ganassi (C) 1:42.3759 3 10 
Tony Kanaan 
Ganassi (C) 1:42.7279 4 22 
Simon Pagenaud 
Penske (C) 1:42.8573 5 3 Helio Castroneves 
Penske (C) 1:42.9449 6 15 
Graham Rahal 
Rahal (H) 1:43.7782 7 8 
Max Chilton 
Ganassi (C) 1:42.7519 8 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay 
Andretti (H) 1:42.8318 9 18 Conor Daly 
Coyne (H) 1:43.1073 10 26 
Carlos Muñoz 
Andretti (H) 1:43.2001 11 83 Charlie Kimball 
Ganassi (C) 1:43.2649 12 11 Sébastien Bourdais 
KVSH (C) 1:43.3291 13 7 
Mikhail Aleshin 
Schmidt (H) 1:43.4024 14 2 Juan Pablo Montoya 
Penske (C) 1:44.3570 15 14 
Takuma Sato 
Foyt (H) 1:43.5357 16 98 Alexander Rossi 
Andretti-Herta (H) 1:45.0840 17 20 Spencer Pigot 
Carpenter (C) 1:43.6432 18 41 Jack Hawksworth 
Foyt (H) 1:45.5110 19 19 Gabby Chaves 
Coyne (H) 1:43.6672 20 21 Josef Newgarden 
Carpenter (C) 4:19.1862 21 27 Marco Andretti 
Andretti (H) 1:43.7289 22 5 
James Hinchcliffe 
Schmidt (H) 4:29.0408
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