Simon Pagenaud secured his second pole position of the Belle Isle weekend but only after his Team Penske team-mate Will Power lost his best two lap times due to inferring in a rival’s lap time.
Power had set two times faster than Pagenaud during qualifying, but after being deemed to interfere with a fast lap of Marco Andretti, he had his two best times deleted, with his third best only good enough for fourth in his group, which means he will start eighth on the grid.
Pagenaud was quickest in group 1 of qualifying to take the pole, with his time of 1:14.0379 beating the time set by group 2 pacesetter Ryan Hunter-Reay, although the Andretti Autosport driver set to line-up on the front row as a result of heading his group.
Helio Castroneves was second fastest in group 1, and hence takes up the third place on the grid for Team Penske, and he will be joined on the second row by Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing, who will be looking to rebound after seeing his race one end early with technical gremlins on Saturday.
Mikhail Aleshin will start an impressive fifth for Schmidt Peterson Motorsport, and will be joined on the third row by Tony Kanaan of Chip Ganassi Racing, with the two aiming to avoid each other after the latter gave the former a puncture during Saturday’s opener that the Russian was surprised the Brazilian was unpunished for.
Graham Rahal will start seventh for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing alongside the penalised Power, while the top ten is completed by AJ Foyt Racing’s Jack Hawksworth and Team Penske’s Juan Pablo Montoya.
Race one winner Sebastien Bourdais will start down in twelfth for KVSH Racing, while Saturday’s surprise podium finisher Conor Daly is down in twenty-first for Dale Coyne Racing after both he and Marco Andretti had their best times deleted.
Belle Isle Race 2 Qualifying Result
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