Will Power Overcomes Practice Crash to Win Firestone Grand Prix P1 Award

Will Power Damaged His IndyCar During Friday Practice (Photo Courtesy IndyCar)

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – Qualifying

ST. PETERSBURG - RIS - Will Power drove his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet through the Firestone Fast Six to win the Verizon P1 Award. Power overcame a big crash Friday to win the Pole position and will lead the 22 cars to the checkered Flag at noon Sunday on the Streets of St. Petersburg. He will line up alongside his Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud. Two other Penske drivers, Helio Castroneves and Juan Montoya, will line up in row 2 behind their counterparts. This is the second year in a row Team Penske drivers will start the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg from the first four positions.

This was Australian Power’s sixth pole win at St. Petersburg and his 43rd overall IndyCar pole. He has won the race at St. Pete twice (2010, 2014).

“Just doing my thing,” Will Power said. “I started the weekend pretty badly (wrecked car in the first practice session) the guys had to fix it. We had to replace the whole rear end. It is a first class team (Penske).

Power’s Firestone Fast 6 lap speed of 107.561 mph bettered the qualifying lap record of 106.841 mph he set on March 28, 2015 in Segment 2 qualifying.

The Firestone Fast Six included five Chevrolets and one Honda:

107.561 mph Will Power - Chevrolet

107.210 mph Simon Pagenaud – Chevrolet

107.108 mph Helio Castroneves – Chevrolet

107.052 mph Juan Montoya – Chevrolet

107.038 mph Scott Dixon - Chevrolet

106.438 mph Ryan Hunter-Reay - Honda

All four Team Penske cars made it out of the first round of qualifications into the group of 12 – seven Chevrolets and F Hondas among eight teams. All four eventually made it to the Firestone Fast Six and topped the first four qualifying positions.

Other Notes:

Car name changes:

Alexander Rossi No. 98 Castrol Edge/Curb Honda

Luca Filippi No. 19 Sonnys Bar B Q Honda

Spencer Pigot No. 16 RLL/Andersen Interior Contracting Honda

Qualifying took place under warm (80+ degree) and sunny conditions.

Sundays race will be broadcast on ABC at 12:30 pm ET.

 

Qualifying Saturday for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 1.8-mile St Petersburg street circuit, with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, aero kit-engine, time and speed in parentheses:

1.  (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:00.2450 (107.561)
2.  (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 01:00.4421 (107.210)
3.  (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 01:00.4995 (107.108)
4.  (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 01:00.5312 (107.052)
5.  (9) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 01:00.5395 (107.038)
6.  (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 01:00.8803 (106.438)
7.  (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:00.5893 (106.950)
8.  (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 01:00.6711 (106.805)
9.  (5) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 01:00.6724 (106.803)
10.  (41) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 01:00.7188 (106.721)
11.  (14) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:00.9745 (106.274)
12.  (21) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 01:01.0571 (106.130)
13.  (26) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 01:01.1856 (105.907)
14.  (83) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 01:01.0433 (106.154)
15.  (27) Marco Andretti, Honda, 01:01.2417 (105.810)
16.  (19) Luca Filippi, Honda, 01:01.1699 (105.934)
17.  (8) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 01:01.5372 (105.302)
18.  (7) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 01:01.2934 (105.721)
19.  (98) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 01:01.5794 (105.230)
20.  (10) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 01:01.3414 (105.638)
21.  (18) Conor Daly, Honda, 01:01.9385 (104.620)
22.  (16) Spencer Pigot, Honda, 01:01.3881 (105.558)

Dave Chess

Dave Chess has been writing for RIS since the late 1980s during the CompuServe days. His work has also appeared in Auto Week magazine, Chicago Gearhead News newspaper, ATA airlines in-flight magazine, National Speed Sport News and on many websites.

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Volume 2016, Issue 3, Posted 5:08 PM, 03.12.2016