INDYCAR: Power, Chevy Blast To Mid-Ohio Pole

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Power, Chevy Blast To Mid-Ohio Pole

With a pole position drought dating back to April, Team Penske's Will Power secured the top spot at the one race on the calendar where it matters most.

Marshall Pruett | Posted August 04, 2012

Will Power reeled off a lap in the Firestone Fast Six that was nearly a quarter-second faster than Dario Franchitti. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

The IZOD IndyCar Series has a handful of tracks where passing in nearly impossible, making the run for pole position at Mid-Ohio--the king of single-file circuits--absolutely critical.

Locked in a fight for his first championship, Team Penske's Will Power did everything he needed to increase his odds of winning tomorrow by putting the pole beyond reach, registering a 1:05.6-second lap around the 2.2-mile, 13-turn road course.

Almost a quarter-second faster than Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Dario Franchitti, the Aussie, who has been nursing a cold that teammate Helio Castroneves passed on, was exhausted when he climbed from the car

"I'm so tired after the session, I'm shaking," he said after claiming his third pole of the year and the 27th of his career. "My car was really good on used tires, I was really surprised--better than new tires. Man, I got out of the car and felt dizzy. I was determined to get pole because I know that track position is really important around here. We need to keep chipping away at the points lead that [Ryan] Hunter-Reay's got."

Franchitti was pleased to post the second-fastest time, but knew that Power was too fast to catch.

"It's nice to get another front row," said the Scot. "I think that's our sixth in a row. Qualifying was a lot of fun. I got everything out of the GE car. I thought it was a good lap, then I saw Will's, and that wasn't in our car today."

Single-car teams qualified third and fourth on Saturday, as Schmidt Hamilton Racing's Simon Pagenaud earned his best qualifying position of the year in third with a lap of 1:05.9 seconds, and Team Barracuda-BHA's Alex Tagliani took fourth.

"The HP car was amazing all weekend," said Pagenaud. "We've made a major change [in setup] philosophy since the [Mid-Ohio] test last week, and I'm glad to see it's working on the [Firestone] Reds because that has been our weakness since the beginning of the season."

PHOTOS: Click Here or on the image below to view INDYCAR: Mid-Ohio 2012

Since switching from Lotus to Honda power at the Indy 500, Tagliani and his team have been completely rejuvenated, and with another visit to the Firestone Fast Six, the French-Canadian had nothing but praise for his Bryan Herta- and Steve Newey-owned program.

"Team Barracuda is doing a great job," said Tag, who will start 14th after serving a 10-spot penalty for an unapproved engine change. "We're pretty close on the setup every time we go out."

Franchitti's teammate Scott Dixon took fifth, but used up his Firestone tires in the process of setting his 1:06.0-second lap.

"I burned the front tires off too much in Q2 and the tires continued to get worse and worse and worse," said the Kiwi. "It was hard to get time out of the car."

Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe rounded out the Fast Six and will have Dragon Racing's Sebastien Bourdais starting behind him in seventh.

Championship leader Ryan Hunter-Reay was the best of the three-car Andretti Autosport squad in eighth, but saw his points lead over Power drop from 26 to 25 at the end of qualifying. The American knows that to limit the damage tomorrow, he'll need to turn up the wick.

"It will take qualifying laps for the whole race because the field is so tight," said RHR. "We're disappointed not to make the Fast Six, but we expected the field to be close because of the open test here (last week). We're going to make the most of it tomorrow."

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