Two former race winners at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway took the two poles for Bommarito Automotive Group 500 doubleheader weekend. 2018 race winner Will Power would take the pole for Saturday’s race and 2019 winner Takuma Sato would take the pole for Sunday.
For doubleheader weekends on ovals, the NTT IndyCar Series employs a two lap solo qualifying run, with lap one’s average speed determining the grid for race one, and lap two’s average speed determining the grid for race two.
Power’s first lap average of 182.394 mph would be enough to see him take his second pole of the season. Outside of him on the front row will be the Arrow McLaren SP machine of Pato O’ Ward, who was fastest in Friday’s practice session.
Chip Ganassi Racing locked out the second row as Scott Dixon, who was the last qualifier of the day, put his PNC Bank No. 9 car in third with an average speed of 182.006 mph. Along side him would be Marcus Ericsson who, after crashing out of last week’s Indianapolis 500, finds himself fourth.
Last week’s Indianapolis 500 winner and Sunday’s polesitter Sato would round out the top five, with an average speed of 181.286 mph.
Race One Top Five
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TOTAL TIME | AVERAGE SPEED (MPH) |
| 1 | 12 | Will Power | AUS | Team Penske | 00:24.6718 | 182.394 |
| 2 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | MEX | Arrow McLaren SP | 00:24.7149 | 182.076 |
| 3 | 9 | Scott Dixon | NZL | Chip Ganassi Racing | 00:24.7244 | 182.006 |
| 4 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | SWE | Chip Ganassi Racing | 00:24.8120 | 181.364 |
| 5 | 30 | Takuma Sato | JPN | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 00:24.8226 | 181.286 |
You can view the full Race One qualifying results here.
Race Two
The second lap seemed to be much faster for many drivers, with the aforementioned Sato’s pole speed 0.105 mph faster than that of Power.
The front row would still contain a Team Penske car however, as 2018 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 winner Josef Newgarden will start alongside Sato with an average speed of 182.477 mph.
The first row for Saturday becomes the second row for Sunday, as Power and O’Ward will start third and fourth respectively on Sunday.
Jack Harvey of Meyer Shank Racing put together a brilliant lap to start fifth on Sunday, going almost a full mile per hour faster than he did on his first lap at 181.800 mph. His first lap speed of 180.915 would still be good enough for the Brit to start seventh on Saturday.
Race Two Top Five
| RANK | CAR NO. | DRIVER | NAT | TEAM | TOTAL TIME | AVERAGE SPEED |
| 1 | 30 | Takuma Sato | JPN | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 00:24.6577 | 182.499 |
| 2 | 1 | Josef Newgarden | USA | Team Penske | 00:24.6607 | 182.477 |
| 3 | 12 | Will Power | AUS | Team Penske | 00:24.6611 | 182.474 |
| 4 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | MEX | Arrow McLaren SP | 00:24.6873 | 182.28 |
| 5 | 60 | Jack Harvey | ENG | Meyer Shank Racing | 00:24.7525 | 181.8 |
You can view the entire Race Two qualifying results here.
