Power Hopes To Follow Winning Formula after Capturing INDYCAR Grand Prix Pole

Will Power completed the first half of a successful past formula Friday, winning the pole for the INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Power earned the Verizon P1 Award for the third time for the event on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile circuit, and he won the race both times previously after starting from pole, in 2015 and 2017.

2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion Power earned the pole this time with a best lap of 1 minute, 9.8182 seconds during the Firestone Fast Six in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. He edged rookie Robert Wickens, who will start on the front row after a best lap of 1:09.9052 in the No. 6 Lucas Oil SPM Honda. View Starting Grid

“We did have to dig deep,” Power said. “I mean, that was everything I had. We made a downforce adjustment after the first round when we saw how fast the other guys were and kind of got close to them, and on used tires the car was really good, so stoked, man, really, really, stoked.”

Power earned the 51st pole of his career, third all time behind Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt. It also was the 258th Indy car pole for Team Penske, which has won four consecutive poles for this event.

Wickens earned a spot in the Firestone Fast Six for the first time since he surprised the field by winning the pole for his first career Verizon IndyCar Series start in March in the Firestone Grnad Prix of St. Petersburg.

“It’s a great job by the guys,” Wickens said. “We got both of our cars in the top six. I’m a bit gutted with P2. I’m great with the front row, but when you lead the whole qual, you want to finish the job. I’m just happy to be back in the Fast Six because the last time we did it was in St. Pete. We’ve been doing a good job all year. We’re hoping to keep it going. Tomorrow is a whole new can of worms. Let’s go play.”

The 85-lap INDYCAR Grand Prix starts at 3:30 p.m. (ET) Saturday.

Sebastien Bourdais qualified third at 1:09.9449 in the No. 18 Team SealMaster Honda. He will be joined on the second row by James Hinchcliffe, who qualified fourth at 1:10.0858 in the No. 5 Arrow Electronics SPM Honda.

Rookie Jordan King will start fifth after a best lap of 1:10.1326 in the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet. Reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden rounded out the Firestone Fast Six at 1:10.7276 in the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Two-time INDYCAR GP winner Simon Pagenaud will start seventh after he was bumped from the Firestone Fast Six by Team Penske teammate Newgarden in the final seconds of the second qualifying session.

Three-time Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil winner Helio Castroneves, competing in his first Verizon IndyCar Series race of the season, will start 10th in the No. 3 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Defending “500” winner Takuma Sato will start 11th in the No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic Honda.

Competition started this afternoon with three Royal Purple GP of Indy races for the Mazda Road to Indy series.

Colton Herta won the Indy Lights presented Cooper Tires race by 5.1512 seconds over Santi Urrutia. It was the first victory of the season for Herta, son of Indianapolis 500 veteran Bryan Herta.

Aaron Telitz finished third. Pole sitter Pato O’Ward went wide in Turn 1 after the start and ended up fourth.

Harrison Scott won the Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tires race by .3834 of a second over pole sitter Oliver Askew. It was the second consecutive victory this season for Scott, who won the second race last month at Barber Motorsports Park. Rinus VeeKay placed third today.

Alex Baron captured the Cooper Tires USF2000 powered by Mazda race. It was his second consecutive victory, as he won the second race at the season opener in March at St. Petersburg.

Pole sitter Kyle Kirkwood finished second today, .4344 of a second behind Baron. Fellow rookie Jose Sierra rounded out the podium in third.

All three Mazda Road to Indy series will race again Saturday at IMS.