The Verizon IndyCar Series points leader Simon Pagenaud will start the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on pole position. Pagenaud’s closest championship rival Will Power completed the front row for Team Penske.
Pagenaud and Power stood out in the competitive qualifying session. They both were quickest in their Round 1 groups and in the Round 2 they claimed the top two positions with Power leading Pagenaud by 0.0677 seconds.
In the Firestone Fast Six the Verizon IndyCar Series points leader Pagenaud was able to turn things around and beat Power by 0.0681 seconds for his sixth Verizon P1 Award of the season. In addition to that, Pagenaud scored a point to extend his lead to Power in the championship to 48 points.
Josef Newgarden on Ed Carpenter Racing completed the top three for Chevrolet-powered cars, losing 0.2500 seconds to Pagenaud. Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay was the top Honda driver, qualifying in fourth place, 0.4565 seconds from Pagenaud.
The qualifying was difficult for Chip Ganassi Racing. The defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion and five-time winner at Mid-Ohio, Scott Dixon, qualified only in 11th place. Tony Kanaan and Max Chilton were eliminated already on the Round 1; however Charlie Kimball made the Firestone Fast Six at the track where he has scored his only Verizon IndyCar Series victory so far.
The Firestone Fast Six was completed by the defending Honda Indy 200 winner Graham Rahal who qualified his Honda-powered Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing machine in sixth place, 0.5997 seconds from polesitter Pagenaud.
The entire qualifying was very competitive with minimal gaps between the cars. Sixth in the Verizon IndyCar Series standings, Tony Kanaan lost 0.4455 seconds to Will Power in the Round 1 Group 2 and missed the sixth-quickest time of Alexander Rossi by 0.1017 seconds.
In the Round 2, the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports drivers James Hinchcliffe and Mikhail Aleshin were holding the top two positions when light rain started a few minutes before the end of the session. Although at first it looked like others are unable to improve their times, the SPM duo was eventually bumped out from the Firestone Fast Six and they will start the race in ninth and 10th place.
Third in the Verizon IndyCar Series standings, Helio Castroneves will also start the race behind the first three rows. Castroneves lost 0.3549 seconds to his Penske teammate Power in the Round 2 and missed the Firestone Fast Six by 0.0421 seconds. He will start the race in seventh place, alongside his Penske teammate Juan Pablo Montoya.
Full qualifying results. (Put this link here: http://www.imscdn.com/INDYCAR/Documents/3598/2016-07-30/indycar-results-quals.pdf)
The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio starts on Sunday at 2:45 pm ET (8:45 pm CET).
