Simon Pagenaud’s strong start to the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season continued as the Frenchman took pole position for Saturday’s Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indy.
The Team Penske driver capitalised on the issues of others, most notably team-mates Will Power and Juan Pablo Montoya, who were both eliminated from qualifying at the second stage due to traffic, as was Scott Dixon, and Pagenaud’s pole ensures Penske’s 100% pole record in 2016 continues.
With some of the big gun’s eliminated early, it will be Chip Ganassi Racing’s Charlie Kimball who will line-up alongside Pagenaud on the front row, the American’s best qualifying performance so far in his IndyCar career.
Row two will see Graham Rahal alongside James Hinchcliffe, with the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver getting the better of the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver by 0.0444s.
The final two drivers who made it through to the Fast Six shootout were Josef Newgarden of Ed Carpenter Racing and Jack Hawksworth, who will start the Grand Prix of Indy from the sixth place on the grid for AJ Foyt Racing.
Just missing out on that Fast Six shootout was Tony Kanaan of Chip Ganassi Racing, who will start seventh alongside Montoya, while Dixon was also a notable absentee from the shootout, ultimately qualifying in ninth for Ganassi, and will start alongside KVSH Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais.
Mikhail Aleshin will start eleventh for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, while Power will start twelfth, despite breaking the Indy road course lap record during the first part of the qualifying session, but was heavily compromised in the second session.
Grand Prix of Indy Qualifying Times
| POS | NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TIME |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | FRA | Team Penske | 1m08.6868s |
| 2 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | USA | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m08.9816s |
| 3 | 15 | Graham Rahal | USA | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1m09.1816s |
| 4 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | CAN | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1m09.2260s |
| 5 | 21 | Josef Newgarden | USA | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1m09.4316s |
| 6 | 41 | Jack Hawksworth | GBR | AJ Foyt Enterprises | 1m09.5141s |
| - | - | Eliminated in Q2 | - | - | - |
| 7 | 10 | Tony Kanaan | BRZ | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m09.2511s |
| 8 | 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya | COL | Team Penske | 1m09.2645s |
| 9 | 9 | Scott Dixon | NZL | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m09.4010s |
| 10 | 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | FRA | KVSH Racing | 1m09.4436s |
| 11 | 7 | Mikhail Aleshin | RUS | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1m09.6771s |
| 12 | 12 | Will Power | AUS | Team Penske | 1m09.9297s |
| - | - | Eliminated in Q1 | - | - | - |
| 13 | 8 | Max Chilton | GBR | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1m09.3289s |
| 14 | 98 | Alexander Rossi | USA | Andretti Herta Autosport | 1m09.1475s |
| 15 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | BRZ | Team Penske | 1m09.4947s |
| 16 | 61 | Matt Brabham | AUS | KV Racing/Pirtek Team Murray | 1m09.2944s |
| 17 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | USA | Andretti Autosport | 1m09.5276s |
| 18 | 6 | JR Hildebrand | USA | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1m09.4377s |
| 19 | 26 | Carlos Munoz | COL | Andretti Autosport | 1m09.6457s |
| 20 | 16 | Spencer Pigot | USA | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 1m09.4591s |
| 21 | 27 | Marco Andretti | USA | Andretti Autosport | 1m09.7478s |
| 22 | 14 | Takuma Sato | JAP | AJ Foyt Enterprises | 1m09.4659s |
| 23 | 35 | Alex Tagliani | CAN | AJ Foyt Enterprises | 1m10.4109s |
| 24 | 18 | Conor Daly | USA | Dale Coyne Racing | 1m09.4795s |
| 25 | 19 | Gabby Chaves | COL | Dale Coyne Racing | 1m09.7720s |
