Montoya beats Power to pole at Pocono

Juan Montoya reset lap records to claim pole position at the unique Pocono tri-oval ahead of the 11th round of the Verizon IndyCar Series.

The final car to go off on its single-car qualifications, Montoya surged to the 15th IndyCar pole of his career which has been revived for a second time through Team Penske this season.

The Colombian’s team-mate and points leader Will Power was second fastest while another Colombian, Carlos Munoz (Andretti Autosport) completes the front-row after clocking the third fastest time.

Montoya set new marks by turning 223.920mph (360.36km/h) on his first lap before finishing with a two-lap average of 223.871mph (360.29km/h) at the 4km venue as IndyCar returns to the Pennsylvania track for the first time in 24 years.

“It’s the luck of the draw, but the big thing was we had good balance,” said Montoya, who has a good deal of NASCAR experience at Pocono.

“Am I back? Well, I’m getting there. I feel like I’m getting there every week. We keep working harder and keep finding speed and more results. So it’s exciting. I think we’re going in the right direction.

“(The track is) so different (from NASCAR). We run wide open all the way around here. I think the average speed is 30 or 40 miles per hour faster than we do in a Cup car. It’s fast.”

Montoya realised his last IndyCar pole during his signature season with Chip Ganassi at the Gold Coast Indy race in 2000.

Castroneves (Team Penske), who trails Power by 39 points following the Houston double-header last weekend, will start from seventh.

Tony Kanaan faired best of the four-pronged Ganassi attack by qualifying eighth, two spots ahead of Ryan Briscoe with reigning series champion Scott Dixon in 15th and Charlie Kimball 17th.

See below for full qualifying results