Verizon Team Penske’s Will Power won the pole position Saturday for the 25th annual Honda Indy Toronto as Team Penske put all three of its cars in the first six rows for the start of Sunday’s street race.
Saturday’s effort marked Power’s fifth pole position in 10 IZOD IndyCar Series races this season. Meanwhile, Ryan Briscoe secured the 10th-place starting position. Helio Castroneves will start 12th on Sunday.
In the Firestone Fast Six final qualifying round, Power was clocked at 59.5771 seconds around the 11-turn, 1.76-mile street course in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Honda. He has won the pole for all five road and street course races so far this season and has won poles at eight consecutive road and street events dating back to last season.
This one, though, was the first pole at Toronto for the native of Toowoomba, Australia who has won the race at Exhibition Place twice in his career.
“Man, we really had to work hard for that in the Verizon car,” said Power. “It’s really good to win a pole here. I’ve never won a pole here in Toronto and I love this place. This is such a physical track—it’s a real driver’s track with all the different surfaces and all the bumps, you really need to wring it’s neck out there, and that’s what I love about it. When you turn a fast lap here, you’re really just exhausted.”
Scott Dixon, driving the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, will start on the front row for the second time this season (59.6646 seconds on his final lap).
IZOD IndyCar Series points leader Dario Franchitti (59.9000) will share Row 2 with Mike Conway (59.9330). Franchitti set the track record of 59.3535 seconds in the first round of qualifying.
Graham Rahal and Oriol Servia are on the third row
As he looks for back-to-back wins at the difficult Toronto street circuit, Power said he knows said Sunday’s race will be tough, especially with championship contenders Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti starting second and third, respectively.
“It’s great to be on pole here, but this is a track where you can really pass a lot of cars and move forward from the back,” added Power. “We still have a lot of work to do tomorrow.”
Power enters Sunday’s race ranked second in IZOD IndyCar Series championship standings, now 19 points behind Franchitti. Both Power and Franchitti have won three times this season.
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