Will Power captured his 3rd consecutive pole at Texas Motor Speedway on a scorching hot Friday afternoon.
Power was the first one to qualify and laid down the law early with a two lap average of 218:519 mph that was untouchable by the rest of the grid. Team Penske teammates Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves managed to land immediately behind their teammates while Simon Pagenaud patiently waited to fire the final bullet for Team Penske.
Pagenaud went out 17th and nearly overthrew his teammate, but came up just .017 shy and ended in second place. and breifly completed a Team Penske lockout of the top two rows.
“Yeah, I drew number one obviously this morning in the drivers meeting, I was a little worried about the conditions,” he said. “It kind of stayed consistent over the whole run of qualifying. I was really happy to get pole honestly. I felt if I could be in the top five, I’d be happy. Starting first, really happy about that.”
The pole moves Power to 4th on the all time pole list, tied with Penske stalwart Rick Mears.
Carlos Munoz was the last car in line and broke the Team Penske sweep with a 4th place qualifying performance, the fastest Honda in the field. Juan Montoya rebounded from a poor performance in first practice to line up in 5th place and will be flanked by Graham Rahal on the outside.
Chip Ganassi Racing claimed the next three positions as Scott Dixon claimed seventh place followed by Tony Kanaan in eighth and Charlie Kimball in ninth place. James Jakes was the first to nearly brake up the Penske brigate as his first lap landed him in fourth place, but an overboost on his second lap slowed him to tenth place.
Last year’s race winner Ed Carpenter and CFH Racing teammate Josef Newgarden were near the bottom of the time sheets during this morning’s practice session and their struggled continued through qualifying as they will line up 14th and 15th, respectively.
Ryan Hunter-Reay was managed to qualify after crashing in this morning’s practice session, but was forced to take a conservative run and ended up in 21st place.
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Manufacturer | Total Time | Two-Lap Avg. Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Will Power | Chevrolet | 47.9140 | 218.519 MPH |
| 2 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | Chevrolet | 47.9580 | 218.441 MPH |
| 3 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | Chevrolet | 48.0398 | 218.069 MPH |
| 4 | 26 | Carlos Munoz | Honda | 48.0923 | 217.831 MPH |
| 5 | 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Chevrolet | 48.1589 | 217.530 MPH |
| 6 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Honda | 48.1792 | 217.438 MPH |
| 7 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Chevrolet | 48.1853 | 217.411 MPH |
| 8 | 10 | Tony Kanaan | Chevrolet | 48.2016 | 217.337 MPH |
| 9 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | Chevrolet | 48.2047 | 217.323 MPH |
| 10 | 8 | Sage Karam (R) | Chevrolet | 48.2942 | 216.920 MPH |
| 11 | 27 | Marco Andretti | Honda | 48.3042 | 216.876 MPH |
| 12 | 7 | James Jakes | Honda | 48.3067 | 216.864 MPH |
| 13 | 14 | Takuma Sato | Honda | 48.3465 | 216.686 MPH |
| 14 | 67 | Josef Newgarden | Chevrolet | 48.4530 | 216.210 MPH |
| 15 | 20 | Ed Carpenter | Chevrolet | 48.4558 | 216.197 MPH |
| 16 | 19 | Tristan Vautier | Honda | 48.5160 | 215.929 MPH |
| 17 | 41 | Jack Hawksworth | Honda | 48.5853 | 215.621 MPH |
| 18 | 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | Chevrolet | 48.6569 | 215.303 MPH |
| 19 | 5 | Ryan Briscoe | Honda | 48.6888 | 215.162 MPH |
| 20 | 98 | Gabby Chaves (R) | Honda | 48.6926 | 215.146 MPH |
| 21 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Honda | 48.7198 | 215.026 MPH |
| 22 | 18 | Pippa Mann | Honda | 48.8041 | 214.654 MPH |
| 23 | 4 | Stefano Coletti (R) | Chevrolet | 49.4315 | 211.930 MPH |
Image: Chris Owens via IndyCar
