Power on verge of history with Iowa IndyCar pole double

Team Penske’s Will Power is one away from equalling the all-time pole position record after qualifying fastest for both races of IndyCar’s Iowa double-header.

Power’s two qualifying laps around the 0.875-mile tri-oval yielded the 65th and 66th poles of his IndyCar career, bringing him tantalisingly close to Mario Andretti’s all-time record of 67.

To get there, he had to knock off team-mate and pre-event favourite Josef Newgarden, with Penske claiming a front row lockout for both encounters, while Scott McLaughlin qualified fifth for Race 11 of the season later this morning (AEST) and sixth for Race 12 in the team’s #3 entry.

A single session was used to set the starting grid for both races, with respective first laps deciding the first grid and second laps, the second.

Drivers rolled out on the basis of reversed entrant points standings and it only took until the fourth car for both of the pole times of 2020, the last visit to Iowa, to be knocked off.

Jimmie Johnson (Chip Ganassi Racing) had the honours, with a Lap 1 speed of 175.205mph (281.965km/h) and a Lap 2 speed of 175.812mph (282.942km/h).

His provisional poles lasted until Jack Harvey (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) went out three cars later, and Takuma Sato (Dale Coyne Racing w/ Rick Ware Racing) immediately beat both of those.

Sato’s team-mate David Malukas (DCR w/ HMD Motorsports) did likewise on his first lap, but Conor Daly (Ed Carpenter Racing) went to provisional pole for both races on the 13th run of the session with laps of 177.478mph (285.623km/h) and 177.287mph (285.316km/h).

Conor Daly (Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian) could only manage a 174.739mph (281.215km/h) first lap but made a massive jump in speed on his second when he nailed a 177.525mph (285.699km/h) to go quickest on Lap 2 times.

However, after stepping out of Car #26, he would state on broadcast that he was due for an engine change between races which would trigger a grid penalty.

As it turned out, Herta would not be on pole regardless, given Newgarden clocked laps of 177.782mph (286.112km/h) and 177.904mph (286.309km/h).

That put Car #2 on top of both starting grids with three drivers to come, and Alex Palou (Ganassi) could not get close to knocking Newgarden off.

Power, however, stormed to a 178.130mph (286.672km/h) and then a 177.944 (286.373km/h), which series leader Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi) would not threaten when he brought a close to proceedings.

All told, the top 10 on the starting grid for Race 11 of the season is Power from Newgarden, Daly, Pato O’Ward (McLaren SP), McLaughlin, Malukas, Harvey, Rinus VeeKay (ECR), Sato, and Romain Grosjean (Andretti), with Ericsson 12th, Scott Dixon (Ganassi) 13th, and Palou 14th.

Herta holds third on the grid for Race 12 for now, pending that forecast engine change.

Race 11 of the season gets underway later today at 06:06 AEST, with live and ad-free coverage on Stan Sport from 06:00 AEST.

Results: Qualifying for Race 11

Results: Qualifying for Race 12