Will Power secures Mid-Ohio IndyCar pole

Power reeled off a 1m05.6474s to secure himself the top spot on the grid for Penske, beating Ganassi's Dario Franchitti by 0.2476 seconds.

It was a significant result from a championship perspective, with both of Power's main rivals failing to make it through to the final phase of qualifying. Points leader Ryan Hunter-Reay was knocked out in segment two, while Helio Castroneves failed to progress from the first round.

Simon Pagenaud and Alex Tagliani were third and fourth-fastest, although the latter has been issued a 10-place grid penalty after the BHA team made an unauthorised engine change yesterday. Scott Dixon and Ryan Briscoe completed the top six.

With both qualifying groups featuring strong line-ups there was always going to be the potential for upsets. Castroneves and Rubens Barrichello both looked safe to progress from the first round, only to be bumped by Hunter-Reay and Oriol Servia at the last moment, while Andretti Autosport found itself without any cars in the final six-car battle for pole.

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                   Time        Gap
 1.  Will Power           Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m05.6474s
 2.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m05.8950s  + 0.2476s
 3.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt Dallara-Honda      1m05.9038s  + 0.2564s
 4.  Alex Tagliani*       Herta Dallara-Honda        1m06.0047s  + 0.3573s
 5.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m06.0967s  + 0.4493s
 6.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m06.2005s  + 0.5531s
 7.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon Dallara-Chevy       1m05.9405s  Round 2
 8.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m06.0660s  Round 2
 9.  Marco Andretti       Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m06.1142s  Round 2
10.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher Dallara-Honda       1m06.1721s  Round 2
11.  Oriol Servia         Panther/DRR Dallara-Chevy  1m06.2053s  Round 2
12.  Justin Wilson        Coyne Dallara-Honda        1m06.6613s  Round 2
13.  Helio Castroneves*   Penske Dallara-Chevy       1m06.7041s  Group 1
14.  JR Hildebrand        Panther Dallara-Chevy      1m06.3768s  Group 2
15.  Rubens Barrichello   KV Dallara-Chevy           1m06.7101s  Group 1
16.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti Dallara-Chevy     1m06.4349s  Group 2
17.  Mike Conway          Foyt Dallara-Honda         1m06.7807s  Group 1
18.  Takuma Sato          Rahal Dallara-Honda        1m06.4404s  Group 2
19.  Tony Kanaan          KV Dallara-Chevy           1m06.8433s  Group 1
20.  EJ Viso              KV Dallara-Chevy           1m06.4511s  Group 2
21.  James Jakes          Coyne Dallara-Honda        1m07.1234s  Group 1
22.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m06.6250s  Group 2
23.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM Dallara-Lotus          1m08.0737s  Group 1
24.  Giorgio Pantano      Ganassi Dallara-Honda      1m07.0348s  Group 2
25.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter Dallara-Chevy    1m08.5116s  Group 1

* Will take 10-place engine penalty