After leading a chunk of last week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway, Marco Andretti is off to a good start this weekend. Andretti earned the Verizon P1 Award for the Milwaukee IndyFest with a two-lap average speed of 170.515 mph. It marks a new track record as Franchitti held it after last year’s qualifying session at 168.737 mph. It marks Andretti’s first pole since 2008.
“So far, that was about as good as we could run, so I’m pleased,” Andretti said. “I think the RC Cola car will be tough to beat. A win would be huge. I told Dad that hopefully (the pole) is only half of his Father’s Day gift.”
The pole for the driver of the No. 25 RC Cola car also allows him to trim Castroneves’ points lead to only one point. Castroneves qualified 18th.
Andretti’s teammate James Hinchcliffe will start alongside of him on the front row as Hinhcliffe recorded a fast lap of 170.868 mph in qualifying behind the wheel of his No. 27 GoDaddy.com car.
“Don’t tell Marco, but the outside is way better on the start,” Hinchcliffe said. “That is what I was going for.
“It was a hell of a team effort, look at that 4 out of the Top 5 guys. Will ruined the Andretti Autosport Parade and everybody on the team deserves such credit after the practice that we had. Man, the third time starting second, I mean like it’s always the bridesmaid, never the bride. I mean I won that pole so bad. For where we were especially at practice, the front row, I will take it! ”
Penske Racing’s Will Power would qualify third.
“We’ve had a good Verizon car all day,” Power said. “I thought we might have enough for pole today but I made a little mistake on the last lap and we just missed it. Starting third is a good position for us tomorrow. I think the Verizon Chevy will be pretty good in the race. We’re not sure what the weather will be – we hope the rain stays away, especially for the fans – but it should be a good race.”
He was followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay and E.J. Viso, giving Andretti Autosport four of the top five starting spots.
“We had a great car, and we just got a little carried away with trying to help the car turn – that’s what beats a lap time here,” Hunter-Reay said. “We missed the pole by just a little bit last year, so we felt we needed to go get it today. We just over-stepped it today. It’s easy to do here at Milwaukee, but we’ll have a good No. 1 DHL Chevrolet for tomorrow, I promise you that.”
Sebastian Saavedra qualified a career-best sixth in the No. 6 Dragon Racing car, while Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan qualified seventh, followed by Josef Newgarden in eighth.
1. (25) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 170.515
2. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 170.418
3. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 170.212
4. (1) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 170.100
5. (5) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 169.828
6. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 169.732
7. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 169.482
8. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 169.462
9. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 169.311
10. (55) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 169.215
11. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 168.820
12. (16) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 168.470
13. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 168.412
14. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 168.141
15. (14) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 168.023
16. (98) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 167.512
17. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 167.263
18. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 167.169
19. (4) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 165.765
20. (18) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 165.364
21. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 164.797
22. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 164.124
23. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 163.230
24. (78) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 162.886
