Power continues St Pete pole run

Will Power will start Sunday’s IndyCar season-opener in St Petersburg from pole position after triumphing in an upset-laden qualifying session on the Floridian street circuit.

The Penske driver sealed the top spot with a 1m01.2070s lap to claim the 30th pole of his career, an achievement that moves him past Dario Franchitti into seventh on the all-time list. It was his fourth straight St Petersburg pole.

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Takuma Sato gifted his new team AJ Foyt Enterprises with a front row start for their first race together by going second-fastest, while Simona de Silvestro backed up her early weekend pace by setting the third-quickest time.

James Hinchcliffe was the only Andretti driver to make it through to the Fast Six, the Canadian edging Helio Castroneves out of fourth.

Rookie Tristan Vautier completed the top six for Sam Schmidt Motorsport.

It was a tough afternoon for several of IndyCar’s traditional leading lights.

Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay will start his title defence from eighth on the grid after finishing up just behind Andretti team-mate Marco Andretti, while Ganassi’s best hope lies with Dario Franchitti in 10th after Scott Dixon failed to progress from the first qualifying phase.

Franchitti will share the fifth row with Sebastian Saavedra, with Tony Kanaan and Oriol Servia completing the top 12.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                   Time        Gap
  1.  Will Power           Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m01.2070s
  2.  Takuma Sato          Foyt Dallara-Honda         1m01.5776s  + 0.3706s
  3.  Simona de Silvestro  KV Dallara-Chevy           1m01.7670s  + 0.5600s
  4.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m01.8229s  + 0.6159s
  5.  Helio Castroneves    Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m01.8991s  + 0.6921s
  6.  Tristan Vautier      Schmidt Dallara-Honda      1m02.0645s  + 0.8575s
  7.  Marco Andretti       Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m01.6883s  Round 2
  8.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m01.7339s  Round 2
  9.  Sebastian Saavedra   Dragon Dallara-Chevy       1m01.7944s  Round 2
 10.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m01.8150s  Round 2
 11.  Tony Kanaan          KV Dallara-Chevy           1m01.9139s  Round 2
 12.  Oriol Servia         Panther/DRR Dallara-Chevy  1m02.1483s  Round 2
 13.  Justin Wilson        Coyne Dallara-Honda        1m02.2177s  Group 1
 14.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m02.1198s  Group 2
 15.  Graham Rahal         Rahal Dallara-Honda        1m02.2709s  Group 1
 16.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher Dallara-Honda       1m02.1592s  Group 2
 17.  Alex Tagliani        Herta Dallara-Honda        1m02.3328s  Group 1
 18.  James Jakes          Rahal Dallara-Honda        1m02.1658s  Group 2
 19.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt Dallara-Honda      1m02.4736s  Group 1
 20.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m02.1715s  Group 2
 21.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon Dallara-Chevy       1m02.6537s  Group 1
 22.  EJ Viso              Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m02.1986s  Group 2
 23.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter Dallara-Chevy    1m02.6634s  Group 1
 24.  JR Hildebrand        Panther Dallara-Chevy      1m02.3179s  Group 2
 25.  Ana Beatriz          Coyne Dallara-Honda        1m03.2551s  Group 2
 

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/real-world-racing/indycar-news/indycar/power-continues-st-pete-pole-run

Alan Jones Tom Jones Juan Jover Oswald Karch Narain Karthikeyan