From IndyCar, Ron McQueeney Image
SONOMA, Calif. (Saturday, Aug. 21, 2010) – Will Power earned his IZOD IndyCar Series-record eighth PEAK Performance Pole Award of the season. Advancing to the Firestone Fast Six was the more difficult part of qualifications for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma.
Power posted a quick lap of 1 minute, 16.5282 seconds with 1:30 left in the 10-minute shootout on the 2.303-mile, 12-turn Infineon Raceway natural-terrain circuit to claim the pole for the 75-lap race. Helio Castroneves (1:16.5652) will join his Team Penske teammate on the front row.
Dario Franchitti (1:16.9437), who enters the race 42 points behind Power in the championship standings, will share Row 2 with Alex Tagliani (1:17.2068). Ryan Briscoe (1:17.2109) and Scott Dixon (1:17.3470), who extended his series-record streak to 45 top-10 starts, will be on the third row.
With a minute left in Round 2 of qualifying, Power was on the outside of advancing by four-tenths of a second to Justin Wilson of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. The team switched to a sticker set of Firestone alternate tires in an effort to make up the difference.
He recorded a lap of 1:16.8072 to bump his way into the Firestone Fast Six.
Also on Aug. 21, Firestone Indy Lights rookie J.K. Vernay turned a quick lap of 1 minute, 23.5582 seconds in the No. 7 Lucas Oil/CJ/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car to earn the Sunoco Pole Award for the 40-lap Carneros 100.
Charlie Kimball, driving the No. 26 Levemir FlexPen entry for AFS Racing Andretti Autosport, jumped to second (1:23.5977) on his final lap.
James Hinchcliffe (1:23.6732) in the No. 2 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling car will start third and Gustavo Yacaman recorded his best qualifying effort of the season (fourth at 1:23.7108) in the No. 10 Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing car.
1. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 01:16.5282 (108.337)
2. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 01:16.5652 (108.284)
3. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 01:16.9437 (107.752)
4. (77) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.2068 (107.384)
5. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.2109 (107.379)
6. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.3470 (107.190)
7. (22) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 01:16.9447 (107.750)
8. (37) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.1317 (107.489)
9. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.3181 (107.230)
10. (2) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.3710 (107.156)
11. (78) Simona de Silvestro, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.7429 (106.644)
12. (4) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.8280 (106.527)
13. (34) Bertrand Baguette, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.5239 (106.945)
14. (06) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.5187 (106.952)
15. (8) EJ Viso, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.6825 (106.727)
16. (02) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.5284 (106.939)
17. (5) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.7112 (106.687)
18. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.6216 (106.810)
19. (24) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.7659 (106.612)
20. (32) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.7533 (106.630)
21. (14) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 01:17.9149 (106.408)
22. (19) Alex Lloyd, Dallara-Honda, 01:18.0423 (106.235)
23. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 01:18.3995 (105.751)
24. (18) Milka Duno, Dallara-Honda, 01:22.2980 (100.741)
25. (36) Francesco Dracone, Dallara-Honda, 01:21.2262 (102.071)