Despite feeling under the weather, Will Power secured his sixth pole position in seven years around the streets of St Petersburg, and led a Team Penske 1-2-3-4 in the process.
The Australian secured top spot with a best time of 1m00.2450s to finish ahead of team-mates Simon Pagenaud, Helio Castroneves and Juan-Pablo Montoya as Chevrolet power locked out the first five places on the grid.
Power was happy with the start to his Verizon IndyCar Series season, and hopes to recover overnight from his affliction for the start of the race.
“What a great run today for the Verizon Chevy team,” said Power. “It’s an awesome feeling to be able to put the new look Verizon car on pole again here at St. Pete.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been feeling pretty ill all day. It was a struggle to get through qualifying, honestly, but we were able to do it and after the Verizon P1 Pole Award presentation I just started feeling a lot worse. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to be at the press conference afterward.
“The car was great today and a big credit to the guys for doing a terrific job in qualifying. I’ll try to get some good rest tonight and come back ready to race on Sunday.”
