Team Penske has dominated so far this weekend in St. Petersburg, and that continued during qualifying as the organization would sweep the top four spots.
Will Power would top the session behind the wheel of his No. 1 Verizon Dallara-Chevrolet with a lap of one minute and 0.6931 seconds for a new track record. It marks his 37th career pole, putting him sixth place on the all-time pole winners list. It also marks his fifth career pole at St. Petersburg.
“I was really satisfied to get pole here today,” Power said. “All the practice sessions are working towards that, literally one lap that gets you pole. It’s a session where everyone gives it everything they’ve absolutely got. When you get pole, it’s very satisfying. It’s really difficult these days to do that. You don’t see anyone getting more than three or four poles during a season now. It’s the same for wins. Anytime you’re at that end of an INDYCAR field, it’s awesome.”
Simon Pagenaud would qualify second for his first race with Team Penske, three hundreths off of Power. It marks Pagenaud’s best start since winning the pole back at Houston in 2014.
“It’s very fast. I’m super happy, to be honest,” Pagenaud commented. “It’s incredible to start this way with Team Penske. We have a lot of pace. The car is fantastic. Thanks to everyone for searching and developing so much. The 22 crew is brand new and is doing a great job. It’s fantastic to be a part of the Penske family. I’m really proud. Today was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed qualifying.”
Helio Castroneves qualified third for his best qualifying effort at St. Petersburg since winning the pole in 2007.
“The Hitachi car has been pretty consistent, I have to say,” he shared. “We basically worked a little bit harder than what we thought. I have three other very good guys in the team, which is good because each one tries something different. In the end of the day, you’re just pushing to the limit. So it’s a perfect testament of great teamwork. Having 1, 2, 3, 4 (in qualifying) shows we’re pushing to the limit, all four of us. I think each one wants to be in front, but at least for the team it’s a good problem to have, having all four guys fighting for the pole position.”
Juan Pablo Montoya would complete the Penske foursome, followed by A.J. Foyt Racing’s Takuma Sato. Sebastien Bourdais qualified sixth after barely missing a squirrel, followed by Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden. It should be noted that being the first race with the aerodynamic kits, Chevrolet took eight of the 10 spots in the top-10.
The session would run incident free, except for Graham Rahal barely brushing the wall. He would qualify 15th.
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Starting Line-Up
1. (1) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 01:00.6931 (106.767)
2. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Chevy, 01:00.7252 (106.710)
3. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 01:00.8356 (106.517)
4. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevy, 01:00.8532 (106.486)
5. (14) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.1496 (105.970)
6. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 01:01.1545 (105.961)
7. (10) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 01:01.1182 (106.024)
8. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.1670 (105.939)
9. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevy, 01:01.2285 (105.833)
10. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Chevy, 01:01.2478 (105.800)
11. (25) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.3657 (105.596)
12. (27) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.4765 (105.406)
13. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevy, 01:01.5727 (105.241)
14. (26) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.4890 (105.385)
15. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.5742 (105.239)
16. (5) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.5780 (105.232)
17. (4) Stefano Coletti, Dallara-Chevy, 01:01.6727 (105.071)
18. (8) Sage Karam, Dallara-Chevy, 01:01.8011 (104.853)
19. (20) Luca Filippi, Dallara-Chevy, 01:01.6736 (105.069)
20. (7) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.8323 (104.800)
21. (41) Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.0095 (104.500)
22. (98) Gabby Chaves, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.9705 (104.566)
23. (19) Francesco Dracone, Dallara-Honda, 01:04.2654 (100.832)
24. (18) Carlos Huertas, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.9716 (104.564)
