Will Power will attempt to become the first driver to start an IZOD IndyCar Series season with three victories tomorrow, and he’ll go about it from the pole position. The Toowoomba, Australia native and his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske machine were at the top of the heap once again in qualifying at Barber Motorsports Park, as Power claimed his second consecutive pole with a time of 70.1356 seconds (118.057 m.p.h.).
Power was the odds-on favorite heading into Barber after topping the Open Test session in February and opening this season with wins on the streets of Sao Paulo and St. Petersburg. He has kept up the domination this weekend and with the critical importance of track position at the tough Alabama road course, another triumph in Sunday’s Indy Grand Prix of Alabama (3 p.m. ET, Versus) seems to be in the making. But Power isn’t buying that.
“I just have to keep executing in the races,” said Power. “If we can stay up front and win tomorrow, that would be great, but if we aren’t in the position to do that, I just can’t make mistakes. We knew we needed to qualify in the front because it is difficult to get past anyone…I think three wins a row is possible, but pretty tough to do. Regardless, we are heading in the right direction.”
Another victory by Power could really pad his already substantial 44-point edge over his closest pursuers in the championship. As for who could rise up and stop him, a surprise of sorts emerged in qualifying as Dreyer and Reinbold Racing’s Mike Conway managed to claim the outside front row position with a time of 70.6501 seconds in the No. 24 Roll Coater car.
Conway is certainly a decent road racer, but his teammate Justin Wilson has led the charge for DRR so far in 2010. But Wilson was unable to advance from the second round of qualifying and so, Conway had to keep the momentum going for his team as it looks for its first win in ten seasons.
“This is my career best qualifying position, so I am excited about where we are starting,” said Conway, a native of Kent, England. “I owe a big thank you to the team who has spent a lot of time getting the car ready for this weekend. They are doing a great job, but we still have some work to do tonight before the race tomorrow.”
Helio Castroneves and Marco Andretti will make up the second row for Sunday’s event. Castroneves (70.6569 seconds) was the last of three drivers to crack the 70-second lap range in qualifying and he felt that it was essential to qualify toward the front.
“It’s always important to qualify upfront, no matter what place,” Castroneves said. “But certainly here, it seems to be a very challenging place. Running behind the other guys, you can see the fast corners that we have here, which is pretty exciting. But when you’re behind the guy, it’s kind of like an oval. It’s turning there, and it makes it a little bit difficult to hold on, but it’s going to be the same for everyone.
“But the strategy seems to be, it’s going to be actually a lot different than some of the other races. The fuel window here seems to be huge. So you might see a lot of guys tomorrow trying different things.”
Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon and KV Racing Technology’sTakuma Sato will make up the third row of the grid. Row 4 has Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanaan and the top ten positions were rounded out by Ryan Briscoe and E.J. Viso.
Tomorrow’s race is set for a 3:45 p.m. ET green flag.
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IZOD IndyCar Series
Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
Barber Motorsports Park – Leeds, Ala.
Starting grid
1. 12-Will Power, Penske, 01:10.1356 (118.057)
2. 24-Mike Conway, Dreyer & Reinbold, 01:10.6501 (117.197)
3. 3-Helio Castroneves, Penske, 01:10.6569 (117.186)
4. 26-Marco Andretti, Andretti, 01:11.0701 (116.505)
5. 9-Scott Dixon, Ganassi, 01:11.3557 (116.038)
6. 5-Takuma Sato, KV Racing Tech., 01:11.4387 (115.904)
7. 10-Dario Franchitti, Ganassi, 01:10.6307 (117.229)
8. 11-Tony Kanaan, Andretti, 01:10.6903 (117.131)
9. 6-Ryan Briscoe, Penske, 01:10.7602 (117.015)
10. 8-EJ Viso, KV Racing Tech., 01:10.7757 (116.989)
11. 22-Justin Wilson, Dreyer & Reinbold, 01:10.7760 (116.989)
12. 32-Mario Moraes, KV Racing Tech., 01:11.5219 (115.769)
13. 78-Simona de Silvestro, HVM, 01:11.0262 (116.577)
14. 37-Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti, 01:10.7449 (117.040)
15. 67-Graham Rahal, Fisher, 01:11.1495 (116.375)
16. 19-Alex Lloyd, Coyne, 01:10.9524 (116.698)
17. 06-Hideki Mutoh, Newman/Haas/Lanigan, 01:11.2855 (116.153)
18. 2-Raphael Matos, Luczo Dragon/de Ferran, 01:11.0507 (116.537)
19. 7-Danica Patrick, Andretti, 01:11.5340 (115.749)
20. 14-Vitor Meira, Foyt, 01:11.1348 (116.399)
21. 77-Alex Tagliani, FAZZT, 01:11.5669 (115.696)
22. 34-Mario Romancini, Conquest, 01:11.6020 (115.639)
23. 4-Dan Wheldon, Panther, 01:11.6095 (115.627)
24. 18-Milka Duno, Coyne, 01:15.1422 (110.191)
25. 36-Bertrand Baguette, Conquest, 01:11.9800 (115.032)
