Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global
Qualifying report

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.

Polesitter Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet

Polesitter Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet

IndyCar Series

Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Conor Daly, Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Chevrolet
Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet
Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske Chevrolet

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.DriverTeam (Engine)Time
1 12  Will Power http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Power_s.png Penske (C) 1:42.2105
2 9  Scott Dixon http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Dixon_s.png Ganassi (C) 1:42.3759
3 10  Tony Kanaan http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Kanaan_s.png Ganassi (C) 1:42.7279
4 22  Simon Pagenaud http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Pagenaud_s.png Penske (C) 1:42.8573
5 3  Helio Castroneves http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Castroneves_s.png Penske (C) 1:42.9449
6 15  Graham Rahal http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Rahal_s.png Rahal (H) 1:43.7782
7 8  Max Chilton http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Chilton_s.png Ganassi (C) 1:42.7519
8 28  Ryan Hunter-Reay http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Hunter-Reay_s.png Andretti (H) 1:42.8318
9 18  Conor Daly http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Daly_s.pngCoyne (H) 1:43.1073
10 26  Carlos Muñoz http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Munoz_s.png Andretti (H) 1:43.2001
11 83  Charlie Kimball http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Kimball_s.png Ganassi (C) 1:43.2649
12 11  Sébastien Bourdais http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Bourdais_s.png KVSH (C) 1:43.3291
13 7  Mikhail Aleshin http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Aleshin_s.png Schmidt (H) 1:43.4024
14 2  Juan Pablo Montoya http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Montoya_s.png Penske (C) 1:44.3570
15 14  Takuma Sato http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Sato_s.png Foyt (H) 1:43.5357
16 98  Alexander Rossi http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Rossi_s.png Andretti-Herta (H) 1:45.0840
17 20  Spencer Pigot http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Pigot_s.png Carpenter (C) 1:43.6432
18 41  Jack Hawksworth http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Hawksworth_s.png Foyt (H) 1:45.5110
19 19  Gabby Chaves http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Chaves_s.png Coyne (H) 1:43.6672
20 21  Josef Newgarden http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Newgarden_s.png Carpenter (C) 4:19.1862
21 27  Marco Andretti http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Andretti_s.png Andretti (H) 1:43.7289
22 5  James Hinchcliffe http://www.toilef1.com/site/image/indycar/2016/10-RoadAmerica/Hinchcliffe_s.png Schmidt (H) 4:29.0408

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Tires, not fuel, may decide strategies at Road America
Next article Road America needs yellows to vary strategies, says Edwards

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Global