Reigning IndyCar champion Will Power will start his title defence from pole position after leading a Penske domination of qualifying in St Petersburg.
Power reset Sebastien Bourdais’ track record of 1m00.8344s from 2003 several times during the afternoon before sealing the top spot with a 1m00.6931s.
“I thought we had an extra lap but we left it a little late and got the chequered flag,” said Power. “But I’m stoked to get pole.”
New team-mate Simon Pagenaud pushed the Australian hard, and for a few fleeting moments stole the top spot late in the session before being pushed back to the outside of the front row for his Penske debut; his lap just 0.03 seconds down on Power’s.
“I’m super happy,” Pagenaud said. “It’s incredible to start this way with Team Penske. We have a lot of pace, the cars are fantastic. Today was a lot of fun.”
Completing the Penske rout were Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya, who finished up third and fourth respectively, giving team owner Roger Penske a complete lock on the first two rows. The four cars were covered by just 0.16s.
With neither Ganassi nor Andretti getting a car into the Fast Six, it was left to 2014 pole winner Takuma Sato and KV’s Bourdais to fill out the third row.
There was nothing between those two either – Foyt driver Sato’s advantage over the Frenchman was a mere 0.004s – but both were 0.4s down on the Penske quartet.
Ganassi had late hopes of getting Tony Kanaan into the run-off for pole when race control investigated whether the Brazilian had been on the receiving end of a block from Pagenaud during the second qualifying round, but no action was taken.
“It’s tough,” Kanaan said. “Look at how close qualifying is. Nobody blocks on purpose. Sometimes you’re trying to get a gap, sometimes you’re trying to cool your tyres.
“We missed out by half a tenth, and I think it’s going to be exciting tomorrow. Sometimes it happens to you, sometimes you do it to other people.”
Follow the 2015 IndyCar season-opener as it happens with AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live from 8pm UK time on Sunday March 29
STARTING GRID:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Power | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m00.6931s | – |
| 2 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m00.7252s | 0.0321s |
| 3 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m00.8356s | 0.1425s |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m00.8532s | 0.1601s |
| 5 | Takuma Sato | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.1496s | 0.4565s |
| 6 | Sebastien Bourdais | KVSH Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.1545s | 0.4614s |
| 7 | Tony Kanaan | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.1182s | – |
| 8 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.1670s | – |
| 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.2285s | – |
| 10 | Josef Newgarden | CFH Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.2478s | – |
| 11 | Simona de Silvestro | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.3657s | – |
| 12 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.4765s | – |
| 13 | Charlie Kimball | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.5727s | – |
| 14 | Carlos Munoz | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.4890s | – |
| 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.5742s | – |
| 16 | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.5780s | – |
| 17 | Stefano Coletti | KV Racing Technology | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.6727s | – |
| 18 | Sage Karam | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.8011s | – |
| 19 | Luca Filippi | CFH Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m01.6736s | – |
| 20 | James Jakes | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.8323s | – |
| 21 | Jack Hawksworth | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Honda | 1m02.0095s | – |
| 22 | Gabby Chaves | Bryan Herta Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.9705s | – |
| 23 | Francesco Dracone | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m04.2654s | – |
| 24 | Carlos Huertas | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1m01.9716s | – |
