Power takes Detroit pole in Penske shut-out

Will Power has continued his purple patch of form by snaring pole position for the Grand Prix of Detroit at the Belle Isle street circuit.

Benefitting from fresh tyres, Power responded to pressure from his fellow Team Penske runners to top the Fast Six with a record qualifying lap of 1:16.09s.

Helio Castroneves was second in 1:16.12s with Indy 500 winner Juan Montoya claiming third with a 1:16.44s effort.

AJ Foyt driver and Belle Isle lap record holder Takuma Sato was fourth, denying Team Penske a sweep-out of the front two rows.

The fourth Team Penske entry of Simon Pagenaud was fifth ahead of Sebastien Bourdais.

Knowing Castroneves and Montoya were on strong runs Power was forced to respond, admitting he had made ‘a couple of mistakes’ as he took his 39th career pole.

“I had new tyres and I was pushing hard because they said Helio and Juan were pretty close,” Indy 500 runner-up and defending series champion Power said.

“I made a couple of mistakes and the car was getting a bit loose.”

Power is now firm favourite to defend his win in the opening 70-lap race tomorrow ahead of the second of the double-header races the following day.

Ganassi driver Scott Dixon was seventh ahead of rookie Stefano Coletti with Marco Andretti and James Jakes completing the top 10.

See below full qualifying results

Pos	Car	Driver	Manufacturer	Time	Speed	Round
1	1	Will Power	Chevrolet	1:16.0941	111.178	Firestone Fast Six
2	3	Helio Castroneves	Chevrolet	1:16.1200	111.140	Firestone Fast Six
3	2	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chevrolet	1:16.4428	110.671	Firestone Fast Six
4	14	Takuma Sato	Honda	1:16.5363	110.536	Firestone Fast Six
5	22	Simon Pagenaud	Chevrolet	1:16.6656	110.349	Firestone Fast Six
6	11	Sebastien Bourdais	Chevrolet	1:17.0406	109.812	Firestone Fast Six
7	9	Scott Dixon	Chevrolet	1:16.9768	109.903	Round 2 / Top 12
8	4	Stefano Coletti (R)	Chevrolet	1:17.3638	109.353	Round 2 / Top 12
9	27	Marco Andretti	Honda	1:17.3785	109.333	Round 2 / Top 12
10	7	James Jakes	Honda	1:17.5158	109.139	Round 2 / Top 12
11	19	Tristan Vautier	Honda	1:17.8140	108.721	Round 2 / Top 12
12	8	Sage Karam (R)	Chevrolet	1:17.9046	108.594	Round 2 / Top 12
13	15	Graham Rahal	Honda	1:18.2239	108.151	Qual / Group 1
14	41	Jack Hawksworth	Honda	1:18.7504	107.428	Qual / Group 2
15	10	Tony Kanaan	Chevrolet	1:18.3144	108.026	Qual / Group 1
16	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Honda	1:19.3634	106.598	Qual / Group 2
17	83	Charlie Kimball	Chevrolet	1:18.3303	108.004	Qual / Group 1
18	67	Josef Newgarden	Chevrolet	1:21.4632	103.851	Qual / Group 2
19	20	Luca Filippi	Chevrolet	1:18.4404	107.853	Qual / Group 1
20	26	Carlos Munoz	Honda	1:21.4796	103.830	Qual / Group 2
21	5	Conor Daly (R)	Honda	1:18.4937	107.779	Qual / Group 1
22	18	Rodolfo Gonzalez (R)	Honda	1:21.8208	103.397	Qual / Group 2
23	98	Gabby Chaves (R)	Honda	1:19.2306	106.777	Qual / Group 1

 

VIDEO: Ride on-board with Will Power on his pole lap