After finishing second in the Saturday morning practice session, Will Power put his Team Penske No.12 car on pole for the first race of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
Power was among those in first group to hit the track for qualifying, and secured pole with a lap time of 1:06.334, which was faster than his best from practice.
Starting behind Power will be fellow Penske driver and defending NTT Data IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden, a full two tenths of a second slower than Power. He will start the race third.
Jack Harvey of Meyer Shank Racing had another impressive qualifying run, putting his Honda on the third row at the home track of team co-owner Michael Shank, stating fifth.
Felix Rosenqvist held pole right until the end when he was pipped by Power, Newgarden, and Harvey. The Swede will start from seventh in his Chip Ganassi Racing No.10 Honda.
Rookie Rinus Veekay, who just turned twenty on Friday, would round out the top five of group one, setting himself up for a ninth place starting spot.
Scott Dixon was left puzzled after a poor qualifying left him stranded in seventeenth place, as his car and the adjustments the team made did not seem to like the softer red wall Firestone tyres. Dixon has won form dead last at Mid-Ohio before, so don’t count him out yet.
Ryan Hunter-Reay would be the fastest in group two with a lap time of 1:06.728, swapping places with Power from practice. Conor Daly would finish second fastest behind RHR with an impressive lap time of 1:06.876.
Alexander Rossi would put another Andretti Autosport car in the first three rows, starting sixth after finishing third in the group.
Like Shank, this is a home race for Graham Rahal and the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team, and he put his No.15 car fourth fastest in group two and will roll off eighth.
Rounding out the top ten would be the third and final Penske car of Simon Pagenaud, completing a strong qualifying effort for Roger Penske and co.
Max Chilton also pulled out a very strong qualifying performance, putting his Carlin machine on the sixth row in twelfth with a lap time of 01:07.449, putting him ahead of the likes of Dixon, Pato O’Ward, and Takuma Sato.
Race 1 will begin at 15:30 EST / 20:30 GMT.
Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Race 1 Qualifying Top Ten
RANK | DRIVER | CAR NO. | NAT | TEAM | BEST TIME |
1 | Will Power | 12 | AUS | Team Penske | 01:06.3343 |
2 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 28 | USA | Andretti Autosport | 01:06.7287 |
3 | Josef Newgarden | 1 | USA | Team Penske | 01:06.5508 |
4 | Conor Daly | 20 | USA | Ed Carpenter Racing | 01:06.8761 |
5 | Jack Harvey | 60 | ENG | Meyer Shank Racing | 01:06.7690 |
6 | Alexander Rossi | 27 | USA | Andretti Autosport | 01:07.1856 |
7 | Felix Rosenqvist | 10 | SWE | Chip Ganassi Racing | 01:06.7841 |
8 | Graham Rahal | 15 | USA | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 01:07.2205 |
9 | Rinus VeeKay (R) | 21 | NED | Ed Carpenter Racing | 01:07.0110 |
10 | Simon Pagenaud | 22 | FRA | Team Penske | 01:07.2489 |
You can view the full qualifying results for each group here.