Will Power continued his dominance at Sears Point this weekend, with the Penske driver claiming pole position for Sunday’s race.
Power claimed the top spot with a best lap of 1m17.2709, beating team-mate Ryan Briscoe by 0.1638s.
Sebastien Bourdais, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti completed the top six.
“I had a feeling it would be between Briscoe and myself, and it was a good battle,” Power said.
“It’s been a good track for Penske, we have consistent cars here and I think the race is going to be pretty wide open with the way the windows work out, extending the race by 10 laps. And there will probably be more passing, too.”
Title contender Ryan Hunter-Reay’s fears about being able to run with the Penske’s proved well-founded, with the American getting knocked out in the second qualifying round.
Others who exited early included Rubens Barrichello, who was the sole KV driver to progress from the first round, and Graham Rahal, who joined Sebastien Saavedra in missing the cut in the first phase by just 0.02s.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Will Power Penske Dallara-Chevy 1m17.2709s 2. Ryan Briscoe Penske Dallara-Chevy 1m17.4347s + 0.1638s 3. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon Dallara-Chevy 1m17.7497s + 0.4788s 4. Helio Castroneves Penske Dallara-Chevy 1m18.1090s + 0.8381s 5. Scott Dixon Ganassi Dallara-Honda 1m18.2126s + 0.9417s 6. Dario Franchitti Ganassi Dallara-Honda 1m18.3462s + 1.0753s 7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Dallara-Chevy 1m18.3355s Round 2 8. Alex Tagliani Herta Dallara-Honda 1m18.4168s Round 2 9. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Dallara-Honda 1m18.4334s Round 2 10. Justin Wilson Coyne Dallara-Honda 1m18.6258s Round 2 11. James Hinchcliffe Andretti Dallara-Chevy 1m18.7885s Round 2 12. Rubens Barrichello KV Dallara-Chevy 1m18.9788s Round 2 13. Sebastian Saavedra AFS/Andretti Dallara-Chevy 1m18.8918s Group 1 14. Marco Andretti Andretti Dallara-Chevy 1m18.8925s Group 2 15. Graham Rahal Ganassi Dallara-Honda 1m18.8981s Group 1 16. Mike Conway Foyt Dallara-Honda 1m18.9048s Group 2 17. JR Hildebrand Panther Dallara-Chevy 1m19.0931s Group 1 18. Tony Kanaan KV Dallara-Chevy 1m18.9475s Group 2 19. EJ Viso KV Dallara-Chevy 1m19.3953s Group 1 20. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR Dallara-Chevy 1m18.9672s Group 2 21. Katherine Legge Dragon Dallara-Chevy 1m19.6414s Group 1 22. Charlie Kimball Ganassi Dallara-Honda 1m19.0262s Group 2 23. Josef Newgarden Fisher Dallara-Honda 1m19.7468s Group 1 24. Takuma Sato Rahal Dallara-Honda 1m19.2821s Group 2 25. Simona de Silvestro HVM Dallara-Lotus 1m20.2295s Group 1 26. James Jakes Coyne Dallara-Honda 1m19.5152s Group 2 27. Ed Carpenter Carpenter Dallara-Chevy 1m19.6837s Group 2
