Team Penske's Will Power kick-off his 2011 IndyCar season in a great way by earning his first pole of the season at the Grand Prix Honda of St-Petersburg.
To no one's surprise, the Australian continued to be the fastest driver of the week-end after finishing on top in two of the three practice sessions. He still had to fight his teammate Ryan Briscoe and Ganassi's Scott Dixon to the end to finally register the fastest lap of the weekend.
Just behind Power was the Ganassi duo formed by current champion Dario Franchitti, barely 0.1s quicker than teammate Scott Dixon.
Mike Conway, who has had a wonderful week-end so far, for Andretti Autosports, finished fourth while Ryan Briscoe (Penske) completed the top 5 of the day.
KV Racing's new driver Tony Kanaan wind up in eight for KV Racing and Sam Schmidt Motorsports' return to IndyCar went well with veteran Alex Tagliani qualifying in 10th.
Early pacesetter Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti) failed to get beyond the group stages and lines up 14th.
The group two session ended with a massive accident for Conquest's Sebastian Saavedra after the Colombian misunderstood a marshal's instruction and exited the pits into the path of Sebastien Bourdais' Dale Coyne car.
IndyCar Qualifying St. Petersburg
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Will Power Penske 1m01.9625s
2. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m02.2953s + 0.3328s
3. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m02.3975s + 0.4350s
4. Mike Conway Andretti 1m02.5306s + 0.5681s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m02.5744s + 0.6119s
6. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m02.7729s + 0.8104s
7. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m02.6312s (Round 2)
8. Tony Kanaan KV 1m02.7818s (Round 2)
9. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m02.8204s (Round 2)
10. Alex Tagliani Schmidt 1m02.8225s (Round 2)
11. Takuma Sato KV 1m02.9312s (Round 2)
12. Graham Rahal Ganassi 1m03.0640s (Round 2)
13. Vitor Meira Foyt 1m03.1315s (Group 1)
14. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m03.1778s (Group 2)
15. Oriol Servia Newman/Haas 1m03.2434s (Group 1)
16. Raphael Matos AFS 1m03.2594s (Group 2)
17. Simona de Silvestro HVM 1m03.2724s (Group 1)
18. Sebastien Bourdais Coyne 1m03.3188s (Group 2)
19. Danica Patrick Andretti 1m03.3764s (Group 1)
20. Ana Beatriz Dreyer & Reinbold 1m03.8036s (Group 2)
21. EJ Viso KV 1m03.4065s (Group 1)
22. James Jakes Coyne 1m03.8854s (Group 2)
23. Charlie Kimball Ganassi 1m03.5162s (Group 1)
24. Sebastian Saavedra Conquest 1m03.9696s (Group 2)
25. JR Hildebrand Panther 1m03.8256s (Group 1)
To no one's surprise, the Australian continued to be the fastest driver of the week-end after finishing on top in two of the three practice sessions. He still had to fight his teammate Ryan Briscoe and Ganassi's Scott Dixon to the end to finally register the fastest lap of the weekend.
Just behind Power was the Ganassi duo formed by current champion Dario Franchitti, barely 0.1s quicker than teammate Scott Dixon.
Mike Conway, who has had a wonderful week-end so far, for Andretti Autosports, finished fourth while Ryan Briscoe (Penske) completed the top 5 of the day.
KV Racing's new driver Tony Kanaan wind up in eight for KV Racing and Sam Schmidt Motorsports' return to IndyCar went well with veteran Alex Tagliani qualifying in 10th.
Early pacesetter Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti) failed to get beyond the group stages and lines up 14th.
The group two session ended with a massive accident for Conquest's Sebastian Saavedra after the Colombian misunderstood a marshal's instruction and exited the pits into the path of Sebastien Bourdais' Dale Coyne car.
IndyCar Qualifying St. Petersburg
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Will Power Penske 1m01.9625s
2. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m02.2953s + 0.3328s
3. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m02.3975s + 0.4350s
4. Mike Conway Andretti 1m02.5306s + 0.5681s
5. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m02.5744s + 0.6119s
6. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m02.7729s + 0.8104s
7. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m02.6312s (Round 2)
8. Tony Kanaan KV 1m02.7818s (Round 2)
9. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m02.8204s (Round 2)
10. Alex Tagliani Schmidt 1m02.8225s (Round 2)
11. Takuma Sato KV 1m02.9312s (Round 2)
12. Graham Rahal Ganassi 1m03.0640s (Round 2)
13. Vitor Meira Foyt 1m03.1315s (Group 1)
14. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m03.1778s (Group 2)
15. Oriol Servia Newman/Haas 1m03.2434s (Group 1)
16. Raphael Matos AFS 1m03.2594s (Group 2)
17. Simona de Silvestro HVM 1m03.2724s (Group 1)
18. Sebastien Bourdais Coyne 1m03.3188s (Group 2)
19. Danica Patrick Andretti 1m03.3764s (Group 1)
20. Ana Beatriz Dreyer & Reinbold 1m03.8036s (Group 2)
21. EJ Viso KV 1m03.4065s (Group 1)
22. James Jakes Coyne 1m03.8854s (Group 2)
23. Charlie Kimball Ganassi 1m03.5162s (Group 1)
24. Sebastian Saavedra Conquest 1m03.9696s (Group 2)
25. JR Hildebrand Panther 1m03.8256s (Group 1)