Will Power wins pole for St. Petersburg

Will Power continued a stellar weekend so far at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg by winning the pole for tomorrow’s race with a lap of 61.6026 seconds in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske machine.

The Australian bested Andretti Autosport’s Tony Kanaan’s top lap by almost three-tenths of a second in the final round of qualifying to claim pole and one championship point. Row 2 will feature Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon and Dreyer and Reinbold Racing’s Justin Wilson, who finished third at St. Pete last year. Row 3 is comprised of Penske’s Helio Castroneves, a past winner at St. Pete, and AA’s Marco Andretti.

In a surprising turn of events, neither defending St. Petersburg champion Ryan Briscoe or top street course racer Dario Franchitti made it out of their respective first-round qualifying groups. Franchitti will start 13th on the grid tomorrow, while Briscoe will have an even deeper charge to make from 19th starting position.

A full qualifying recap is coming later today on IndyRacingRevolution.com…