Will Power earned his 31st career Indy car pole, tying Dario Franchitti and Sebastien Bourdais for seventh all-time, in qualifications for the June 8 Firestone 550 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, recorded a two-lap average speed of 219.182 mph on the 1.5-mile, high-banked oval to claim the Verizon P1 Award. It was more than 3.5 mph faster than Alex Tagliani’s 2012 pole-winning speed in the first year of the new chassis-engine package.
“The race car has been pretty good,” said Power, who’s among five drivers to start from the pole in eight races. “We were wide open, trimmed out enough, the gears were right. Last year we thought we should have been on the pole but we got it right this time. It’s going to be an interesting race.”
Power started fifth and finish eighth in the 228-lap race last June. There have been 18 race winners in the 24 IZOD IndyCar Series races at Texas Motor Speedway dating to 1997, and there hasn’t been a back-to-back winner in the past seven years.
Marco Andretti, who’s tied with Helio Castroneves atop the championship standings, earned his best start in nine races at Texas Motor Speedway with a two-lap average of 217.553 mph for second in the No. 25 RC Cola car for Andretti Autosport.
Reigning series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay (217.524) and Franchitti (217.504) will share Row 2. E.J. Viso (217.244) and Castroneves (217.100) will share Row 3.
Qualifying Friday for the Firestone 550 IZOD INDYCAR Series event on the 1.455-mile Texas Motor Speedway, with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, and speed:
1. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 219.182
2. (25) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 217.553
3. (1) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 217.524
4. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 217.504
5. (5) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 217.244
6. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 217.100
7. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 216.693
8. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 216.570
9. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 216.552
10. (16) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 216.487
11. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 216.447
12. (78) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 216.396
13. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 216.248
14. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 215.727
15. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 215.474
16. (98) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 215.406
17. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 214.839
18. (4) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Chevy, 214.586
19. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 213.888
20. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 213.217
21. (18) Pippa Mann, Dallara-Honda, 212.785
22. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 207.807
23. (14) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, no speed
24. (55) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, no speed
IZOD IndyCar Series Engine Penalties for Texas Race
IZOD IndyCar Series officials have announced there will be three cars that will have 10-grid spot penalties for unapproved engine changes between the Belle Isle race and Friday:
#78 De Silvestro (Rule 15.5.7.2)
15.5.7.2. (In-Race Failure): The Engine Manufacturer must inform its INDYCAR engine support engineer of the engine failure within five (5) hours of the end of the Race. Note: Took place at Belle Isle.
#55 Vautier (Rule 15.5.1.)
15.5.1. (Minimum mileage): Engine was changed before minimum mileage threshold (“Change-Out Mileage”) of 2,000 miles.
#77 Pagenaud (Rule 15.5.1.)
15.5.1. (Minimum mileage): Engine was changed before minimum mileage threshold (“Change-Out Mileage”) of 2,000 miles.
The Firestone 550 (228 laps/324 miles) will be live on ABC 8:30 p.m. (ET).
Source: IndyCar
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