IndyCar Mid-Ohio: Will Power leads Penske 1-2 in qualifying
Penske driver Will Power secured his fifth pole position of the 2017 IndyCar season, leading a 1-2 for the team in Mid-Ohio qualifying.
The Australian driver has yet to win at the Mid-Ohio circuit but will line up from the front of the field on Sunday, after setting the pace in the Fast Six.
Power put in a 1m04.1720s to take the 49th pole position of his career, and is now tied for fourth all-time with Bobby Unser.
His Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden, winner last time out in Toronto, was his nearest challenger, missing out on pole by just 0.1347s but landing his first front row start of the season.
Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato was the sole Andretti driver through to the final qualifying session and he finished third, ahead of Graham Rahal - who suffered a big slide on his final run.
Helio Castroneves will start fifth on the grid, with five-time Mid-Ohio winner and championship leader Scott Dixon in sixth - the only Ganassi car to make it out of the first session.
Last year's IndyCar champion and Mid-Ohio winner Simon Pagenaud just lost out on a spot in the Fast Six by 0.0488s, and had to settle for seventh.
Toronto podium finishes James Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi will start eighth and ninth, just ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay, who was an early pacesetter in the second session.
Conor Daly and ex-F1 driver Esteban Gutierrez will start Sunday's race from the sixth row of the grid. Charlie Kimball qualified 13th, with Marco Andretti, Ed Jones and Spencer Pigot next up.
Ganassi's Tony Kanaan originally made it through to the second session, fifth in his group, but he lost his fastest time after causing a yellow flag with a spin at the Turn 2 hairpin.
He will therefore start 17th, just ahead of team-mate Max Chilton, JR Hildebrand, Carlos Munoz and IndyCar returnee Mikhail Aleshin.
STARTING GRID
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Power | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m04.1720s |
| 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 0.1347s |
| 3 | Takuma Sato | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 0.5072s |
| 4 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 0.6239s |
| 5 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 0.6765s |
| 6 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1.0207s |
| 7 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 0.1288s |
| 8 | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 0.2064s |
| 9 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Herta | Dallara/Honda | 0.3186s |
| 10 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 0.3208s |
| 11 | Conor Daly | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Chevrolet | 0.7025s |
| 12 | Esteban Gutierrez | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 0.8648s |
| 13 | Charlie Kimball | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 0.8210s |
| 14 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 0.4209s |
| 15 | Ed Jones | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 0.8617s |
| 16 | Spencer Pigot | Ed Carpenter Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 0.4466s |
| 17 | Tony Kanaan | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1.1480s |
| 18 | Max Chilton | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 0.6883s |
| 19 | J.R. Hildebrand | Ed Carpenter Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1.1662s |
| 20 | Carlos Munoz | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Chevrolet | 0.7720s |
| 21 | Mikhail Aleshin | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1.0721s |
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