Will Power Storms To Pole Ahead Of Dario Franchitti At Mid-Ohio

Will Power has continued his dominance at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, securing pole-position for the Honda Indy 200 and ending a four-month pole drought. Power will line-up alongside reigning Series Champion Dario Franchitti, with Simon Pagenaud a competitive 3rd behind the leading duo.

The Australian driver stormed to his third pole of the year in blistering fashion, setting a 01:05.6474 – a time which was only three-tenths off the IndyCar circuit record which was set by Dario Franchitti in 1999 and matched by Gil de Ferran in 2000. Whilst Will Power continued to assert his authority at the front, his Championship rivals suffered a dismal qualifying session as Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified 8th and Helio Castroneves 13th, with the latter incurring a 10-place grid drop due to an unapproved engine change following qualifying.

“This session today is the hardest I have tried all year – I just kept pushing and pushing, I had to.” Explained an exhausted Will Power after qualifying, “It is the most that I have put into a lap.  We needed that pole and it is so important to start up front to keep pushing, if we have a chance for the Championship.”

Will Power heads into the 85-lap race tomorrow 26 points behind Championship leader Ryan Hunter-Reay, and will undeniably be striving to take the win and the 50 points that go with it. Reigning Champion Dario Franchitti has failed to shine as dominantly this season, however the Scot will be eager for a competitive result once the green flag flies tomorrow afternoon.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                   Time        Gap
 1.  Will Power           Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m05.6474s
 2.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m05.8950s  + 0.2476s
 3.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt Dallara-Honda      1m05.9038s  + 0.2564s
 4.  Alex Tagliani*       Herta Dallara-Honda        1m06.0047s  + 0.3573s
 5.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m06.0967s  + 0.4493s
 6.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m06.2005s  + 0.5531s
 7.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon Dallara-Chevy       1m05.9405s  Round 2
 8.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m06.0660s  Round 2
 9.  Marco Andretti       Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m06.1142s  Round 2
10.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher Dallara-Honda       1m06.1721s  Round 2
11.  Oriol Servia         Panther/DRR Dallara-Chevy  1m06.2053s  Round 2
12.  Justin Wilson        Coyne Dallara-Honda        1m06.6613s  Round 2
13.  Helio Castroneves*   Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m06.7041s  Group 1
14.  JR Hildebrand        Panther Dallara-Chevy      1m06.3768s  Group 2
15.  Rubens Barrichello   KV Dallara-Chevy           1m06.7101s  Group 1
16.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m06.4349s  Group 2
17.  Mike Conway          Foyt Dallara-Honda         1m06.7807s  Group 1
18.  Takuma Sato          Rahal Dallara-Honda        1m06.4404s  Group 2
19.  Tony Kanaan          KV Dallara-Chevy           1m06.8433s  Group 1
20.  EJ Viso              KV Dallara-Chevy           1m06.4511s  Group 2
21.  James Jakes          Coyne Dallara-Honda        1m07.1234s  Group 1
22.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m06.6250s  Group 2
23.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM Dallara-Lotus          1m08.0737s  Group 1
24.  Giorgio Pantano      Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m07.0348s  Group 2
25.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter Dallara-Chevy    1m08.5116s  Group 1

* Will take 10-place engine penalty

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