Scott Dixon will line up seventh in tomorrow’s GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway after narrowly missing out on a spot within the Firestone Fast six in an incredibly tense qualifying session in which Will Power claimed his 58th career pole position.
The Kiwi crossed the line 0.05s down on title protagonist Josef Newgarden to come within a whisker of snaring an opportunity to contest the final segment.
Power took the his fourth pole position around the Indianapolis road course in seven years, doing so with a shootout time of 1.10.1779 to knock Jack Harvey off provisional pole with his final lap by two-tenths.
It bods well for Power who every time he has started this race from the pole position, he has gone on to win, doing so in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
Harvey, who claimed his career best finish of third at the venue last year, will start from his personal best qualifying position.
McLaren SP rookie Oliver Askew was competing in his first road course event will start from highly commendable fifth ahead of Newgarden who made a mistake on his shootout lap which saw him abandon his sole flyer.
Dixon will start from seventh, two places ahead of his Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda stablemate Felix Rosenqvist, who took pole here last year and will be looking to redeem himself after a race-ending crash at Texas last month.
After a promising practice session, Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay fell outside the Top 10 after disappointing Group 2 session which saw the duo make up the last spots down in 11th and 12th
The only driver aside from Power who has won this race is Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud. The Frenchman had a turbulent qualifying session and could only clinch 20th place in his #22 Chevrolet.
| Pos | Driver | Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Power | 01:10.1779 |
| 2 | Jack Harvey | 01:10.3653 |
| 3 | Colton Herta | 01:10.5197 |
| 4 | Graham Rahal | 01:10.5844 |
| 5 | Oliver Askew | 01:10.8404 |
| 6 | Josef Newgarden | No Time |
| 7 | Scott Dixon | 01:10.1990 |
| 8 | Conor Daly | 01:10.2169 |
| 9 | Felix Rosenqvist | 01:10.2310 |
| 10 | Max Chilton | 01:10.3055 |
| 11 | Alexander Rossi | 01:10.3426 |
| 12 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 01:10.5764 |
| 13 | Pato O’Ward | 01:10.7333 |
| 14 | Marcus Ericsson | 01:10.6287 |
| 15 | Santino Ferrucci | 01:10.7902 |
| 16 | Spencer Pigot | 01:10.6350 |
| 17 | Takuma Sato | 01:10.8853 |
| 18 | Rinus VeeKay | 01:10.7070 |
| 19 | James Hinchcliffe | 01:11.1478 |
| 20 | Simon Pagenaud | 01:10.7438 |
| 21 | Alex Palou | 01:11.1815 |
| 22 | Zach Veach | 01:11.2762 |
| 23 | Sage Karam | 01:11.7774 |
| 24 | Charlie Kimball | 01:11.4026 |
| 25 | Marco Andretti | 01:12.0513 |
| 26 | Dalton Kellett | 01:11.5876 |
