Power Leads Team Penske 1-2-3 Qualifying Sweep At The Glen
by Joe Jennings
7/3/2010

Tweet

Watkins Glen, N. Y. - Will Power continued Team Penske's qualifying dominance at Watkins Glen International when he sped to the pole position for Sunday's Camping World Grand Prix, the eighth race of the IZOD IndyCar Series season. The Aussie swept around the historic 3.4-mile road course at a speed of 135.832 miles per hour to earn pole honors for the fifth time this season.

For Team Penske, it earned the coveted Peak Performance Pole for the sixth time in as many tries at The Glen and chalked up its record eighth consecutive pole in 2010. In the overall category, the acclaimed team attained its 191st open-wheel pole and the 386th across all forms of racing.

Even though Team Penske has an outstanding qualifying record at The Glen, it has yet to win a race, and Power hopes to move into the win column on Sunday.

"I was a little off going into qualifying as I felt a bit rusty," Power said. "During practice I wasn't on the pace, but we worked on the car to make it better. Fortunately, in the second segment (of qualifying), I used a new set of red tires and got the pole for Penske."

Discussing the qualifying dominance of his team, Power stated, "We have three good drivers and engineers that work together, which is why we do so well."

Power's teammates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe qualified second and third quickest at speeds of 135.612 and 134.898 mph, respectively. To date here, Castroneves has three poles and Briscoe has two.

Going for the pole on the last lap Castroneves slid off the track in turn seven, ending up in the marbles. "I was going for it, as I wanted that pole position better than anybody," the Brazilian said. "It was a shame as we were very close, so I decided to do something really crazy but unfortunately it was a little too much. Fortunately, I didn't hit anything. Had it not happened I would have been really close (for the pole), but it was also a great team effort."

Said Briscoe about his effort, "I am happy to have made it into the Fast Six, and it was hard fought. It was really a special day for us. This is such a great track and the one I enjoy the most."

Dario Franchitti qualified fourth ahead of rookie Takuma Sato and 2009 race winner Justin Wilson.

Scott Dixon timed seventh fastest ahead of Marco Andretti, Mario Moraes and newcomer Adam Carroll, who drove an AFX/Andretti Autosport entry.

Paul Tracy qualified 12th and Tony Kanaan 13th.

2008 race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay spun during qualifications but came back to take the 16th fastest time.

E. J. Viso crashed during practice and he did not make a qualification attempt. In his accident, he made two impacts in turns 1 and 2 first with the ride side of the car before sliding across the track impacting the Armco barrier on the left side of the car. The car sustained heavy damage to both sides, but he climbed from it without assistance.

The Camping World Grand Prix will be telecast live by ABC on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern.





Discuss this article and more in the RacingNation.com community

Print    Favorites    digg    del.ico.us    My Web    Google