Power Earns Pole For Honda Grand Prix Of St. Petersburg

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Saturday, March 26, 2011) – For the second consecutive year, Will Power earned the PEAK Performance Pole Award for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, posted a quick lap of 1 minute, 01.9624 seconds (the quickest of the weekend) with 2:15 left in the 10-minute Firestone Fast Six shootout for his 11th IZOD IndyCar Series pole. He set a series record last season with eight.

Four teams are represented on the first three rows for the 100-lap race on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn circuit with the scenic Tampa Bay in the background.

Reigning series champion Dario Franchitti, who hasn’t won at St. Pete in the seven years of the event, will start second in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car (1:02.2953), while teammate Scott Dixon will share Row 2 with Andretti Autosport’s Mike Conway in the No, 27 Team GoDaddy car.

Ryan Briscoe, who won the race in 2009, and Justin Wilson, who has finished second and third the past two years, are on Row 3.

Also on March 26, Esteban Guerrieri became the eighth driver — and first since Graham Rahal in 2006 — to earn the Sunoco Pole Award in their debut race with a quick lap of 1 minute, 7.6903 seconds on the 1.8-mile, 14-turn St. Petersburg street course for the Firestone Indy Lights race.

Guerrieri, driving the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, jumped to the top on the final green flag lap of the 45-minute session. He leapfrogged Conor Daly, who rose to P1 (1:07.9338) in the No. 77 Mazda Road to Indy/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car with 13 minutes remaining and further improved his lap time (1:07.7009).

Josef Newgarden completed a 1-2-3 for Sam Schmidt Motorsports with a best lap of 1:07.8731. He’ll be joined on the second row by Stefan Wilson (1:07.9582) in the No. 5 Andretti Autosport car. It’s the fourth 1-2-3 start for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – Qualifying Saturday for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.8-mile Streets of St. Petersburg Street Circuit, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, time and speed in parentheses:
1. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 01:01.9625 (104.579)
2. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.2953 (104.021)
3. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.3975 (103.850)
4. (27) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.5306 (103.629)
5. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.5744 (103.557)
6. (22) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.7729 (103.229)
7. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.6312 (103.463)
8. (82) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.7818 (103.215)
9. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.8204 (103.151)
10. (77) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.8225 (103.148)
11. (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 01:02.9312 (102.970)
12. (38) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.0640 (102.753)
13. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.1315 (102.643)
14. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.1778 (102.568)
15. (02) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.2434 (102.461)
16. (17) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.2594 (102.435)
17. (78) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.2724 (102.414)
18. (19) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.3188 (102.339)
19. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.3764 (102.246)
20. (24) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.8036 (101.562)
21. (59) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.4065 (102.198)
22. (18) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.8854 (101.432)
23. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.5162 (102.021)
24. (34) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.9696 (101.298)
25. (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 01:03.8256 (101.527)

RacingNation Crew

Related Posts

• 
  Motorsports Minute: Alexander Rossi
• 
  Motorsports Minute: Matt Tifft
• 
  Motorsports Minute: Alexander Rossi