Helio Castroneves secured his fiftieth career Verizon IndyCar Series pole position as Chevrolet power locked out the top ten grid slots at the Phoenix International Raceway on Friday evening.
Just like in practice, Chevrolet dominated, with the leading Honda driver Marco Andretti down in eleventh position for Andretti Autosport.
Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Ed Carpenter Racing drivers took the top ten places running with Chevrolet power, with Castroneves securing pole position with a two-lap time of 38.2604s, with his fellow Brazilian Tony Kanaan joining him on the front row, the Ganassi driver’s time 0.1624s shy of top spot.
The same two teams form row two, with St Peterburg winner Juan Pablo Montoya third for Penske ahead of Ganassi’s Charlie Kimball, while morning pacesetter Ed Carpenter will start fifth in his own Ed Carpenter Racing team.
Scott Dixon will join Carpenter on the third row, with the fourth row consisting of Carpenter’s team-mate Josef Newgarden and the fourth Ganassi entry of former Formula 1 racer Max Chilton, while Penske duo Will Power and Simon Pagenaud completed the top ten.
Carlos Munoz caused the session to be delayed for fifteen minutes after crashing on his run at the opening turn in his Andretti Autosport entry, the third Honda to crash this weekend so far after Takuma Sato and James Hinchcliffe crashed at the same corner during practice.
Neither the AJ Foyt Enterprises driver nor the Sam Schmidt Motorsports driver was able to set a time in qualifying as their teams continued to work on fixing their cars.
Phoenix International Raceway Qualifying Result
[table id=902 /]