BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (Saturday, April 22, 2017) – Will Power negotiated the 2.3-mile, 17-turn permanent road course in 1 minute, 6.9614 seconds (123.653 mph) in the Firestone Fast Six, the climactic round of knockout qualifying. It earned the 36-year-old Australian the Verizon P1 Award and his fourth pole position at the track for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
Power edged a pair of teammates and past Barber pole winners for qualifying honors. Helio Castroneves was second (1:07.1429, 123.319 mph) and Simon Pagenaud third (1:07.3817, 122.882 mph).
“Congratulation to Will,” said Pagenaud, the defending Barber race winner and reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion. “That was great qualifying and phenomenal for the race team: 1-2-3.”
Power’s 46th career pole – fifth all time – was the seventh for Team Penske in eight events at Barber Motorsports Park. It was also the 248th in Indy car history for the team, which Power said is where it all starts.
“First, it’s having a very good team and car, definitely working well this weekend,” said Power, the 2014 series champion who has Barber race wins in 2011 and ’12. “Kind of focusing very well and making sure I’m looking at the right things. Felt like I had a much better car on used tires; I think that’s kind of where we’ve been going wrong. Yeah, just very good result.”
SOURCE: INDYCAR