For the first time in 2014, Sebastian Bourdais will lead the field to the green flag as he won the pole on Saturday morning for the Honda Indy Toronto Race 1 with a lap of 58.9479 seconds. It marks the 32 career pole award for Bourdais, with his last pole coming in September of 2007. He also becomes the 10th different pole winner in 13 races thus far this year.
“The track was getting better,” the driver of the No. 11 Hydoxycut KVSH Racing Chevrolet commented. “Most of everybody was waiting behind us when they said, ‘Alright, pit now, we’re going to put on the other set of tires and try it again,’ and we’re like, ‘Okay, are you sure about this?’ and it worked to perfection. They made it happen for me and the Hydroxycut machine was really strong in qualifying today.”
Bourdais has been strong on the streets of Exhibition Place in the past, scoring four podiums in nine starts, including a previous victory.
For KVSH Racing, it marks their first pole since 2011 when Kanaan scored the pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
2011 Honda Indy Toronto winner Will Power would qualify second for his fourth front-row start of the 2014 season with a lap of 59.1025 seconds. Points leader Helio Castroneves would qualify third for his seventh top-five of the season, followed by 2012 race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud.
“The PPG Chevy was strong, man. It was really strong,” Castroneves commented following the session. “We qualified third and we’re kind of upset about it. That’s a good thing! It’s a great position to start the race. Unfortunately our tires at the end were a little worse than some of the others and that was the difference. I feel like we will be very good for the race.”
Tony Kanaan qualified sixth, followed by Luca Filippi, Justin Wilson, James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Briscoe. Defending race winner Scott Dixon would qualify 12th.
Notably, Marco Andretti will be the 23rd starter on the grid after posting the slowest time in qualifying.
Honda Indy Toronto Race 1 Qualifying Results
- Sebastien Bourdais
- Will Power
- Helio Castroneves
- Ryan Hunter-Reay
- Simon Pagenaud
- Tony Kanaan
- Luca Filippi
- Justin Wilson
- James Hinchcliffe
- Ryan Briscoe
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Scott Dixon
- Josef Newgarden
- Graham Rahal
- Takuma Sato
- Mike Conway
- Carlos Munoz
- Jack Hawksworth
- Sebastian Saavedra
- Charlie Kimball
- Carlos Huertas
- Mikhail Aleshin
- Marco Andretti
