Supersub Power Fastest At Long Beach

By Joe Jennings
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Updated: April 18, 2009

Long Beach, Calif. – With Helio Castroneves’s return to racing, supersub Will Power looked to be on the outside. Instead, Team Penske rolled out a third car for him to race in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, and Power showed his gratitude by winning the pole position.

Driving the Team Verizon Wireless entry, the talented Australian raced around the 1.97-mile street course at a speed of 101.631 miles per hour to earn his first career pole. The pole marks the 42nd pole for Team Penske in the IndyCar Series.

Power became the third driver to jump from sixth to first during the Firestone Fast Six qualifying segment.

“It was obvious in the first session that you had to use reds (tires) to get through,” he said. “So it was a matter of saving your reds a little bit and saving your energy for the final round. That’s sort of what I did – I saved my big lap until the end. And I plan to keep doing my best at every session and see what the future brings.”

Former champion Dario Franchitti put the Target Chip Ganassi Racing entry on the outside of the front row with a speed of 101.403 mph. “The balance of the Target car was really good at the end,” the Scot said. “I was just trying to get a clear lap, and we had a really good lap going, but I ran out of fuel in turn 9. Starting second is not bad.”

Franchitti’s crew had to repair his car after he crashed into the turn 6 tire barrier during practice.

Rookie Raphael Matos qualified a career-best third in the US Air Force Luczo Dragon. “I’ve got to give all the credit to the boys on the team. It was a great comeback from St. Petersburg where we had a huge wreck.”

E. J. Viso, who had held down the fastest qualifying spot for a spell ended up fourth fastest in the PDVSA HVM Racing car. “It was a great day, and everything happened as we expected,” he commented.

Fifth and sixth fastest qualifiers were Justin Wilson and reigning IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon.

Graham Rahal and the popular Helio Castroneves were seventh and eighth fastest.

Trailing them were Alex Tagliani and Ryan Briscoe.

Within minutes of each others, Castroneves and Briscoe crashed during qualifications.

“I pushed a little bit too much trying to get into the top six and I overdid it,” Castroneves said. Regarding Power’s accomplishment, he added, “Winning the pole shows how good he is.”

Castroneves was examined at the track hospital after complaining of a headache following his crash. According to medical officials, there was no evidence of a concussion but he will be re-evaluated Sunday morning.

Briscoe said his car lost the balance after putting on red tires.

Tony Kanaan ended up 11th and with Castroneves and Kanaan out of the Fast Six it marked the first time that one or the other of them had missed the premier qualifying session.

Danica Patrick also made contact with a wall and she ended up with the 22nd starting position.

Ed Carpenter was the slowest qualifier at 98.527 mph.