Japan’s Takuma Sato has stormed to pole position for the opening IndyCar series race at the St Petersburg street track in Florida.
Sato (AJ Foyt) maintained his sizzling practice form to storm to the top in the closing stages of the Fast 6 to claim the #1 spot ahead of Ganassi’s Tony Kanaan.
Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) was third quickest ahead of Australia’s Will Power, the only Team Penske driver to make the final 6.
Sato was the only driver to dip under the 1:02s bracket in clocking 1:01.8686s ahead of Kanaan’s 1:02.1637s with Hunter-Reay managing 1:02.2167s.
Power, who won at St Petersburg from pole in 2010 and has claimed the #1 starting spot over the last four years, finished with a best lap of 1:02.3955s.
Defending series champion Scott Dixon (Ganassi) was fifth in 1:02.4454s with Marco Andretti (Andretti Autosports) ending sixth in 1:02.9595s.
IndyCar returnee Juan Montoya failed to make it through to Round 2 of qualifying and will start from 18th for tomorrow’s 110-lap Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg.
QUALIFYING: Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
| Pos. | Car | Driver |
Time |
Speed |
Round |
| 1 | 14 | Takuma Sato |
1:01.8686 |
104.738 |
Firestone Fast Six |
| 2 | 10 | Tony Kanaan |
1:02.1637 |
104.241 |
Firestone Fast Six |
| 3 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay |
1:02.2167 |
104.152 |
Firestone Fast Six |
| 4 | 12 | Will Power |
1:02.3955 |
103.854 |
Firestone Fast Six |
| 5 | 9 | Scott Dixon |
1:02.4454 |
103.771 |
Firestone Fast Six |
| 6 | 25 | Marco Andretti |
1:02.9595 |
102.923 |
Firestone Fast Six |
| 7 | 34 | Carlos Munoz (R) |
1:03.3955 |
102.214 |
Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 8 | 98 | Jack Hawksworth (R) |
1:03.5738 |
101.929 |
Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 9 | 8 | Ryan Briscoe |
1:03.6206 |
101.854 |
Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 10 | 3 | Helio Castroneves |
1:03.6635 |
101.785 |
Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 11 | 17 | Sebastian Saavedra |
1:03.8374 |
101.508 |
Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 12 | 20 | Mike Conway |
1:03.9618 |
101.310 |
Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 13 | 11 | Sebastien Bourdais |
1:15.8337 |
85.450 |
Qual / Group 1 |
| 14 | 77 | Simon Pagenaud |
1:12.3741 |
89.535 |
Qual / Group 2 |
| 15 | 7 | Mikail Aleshin (R) |
1:15.9111 |
85.363 |
Qual / Group 1 |
| 16 | 19 | Justin Wilson |
1:12.5890 |
89.270 |
Qual / Group 2 |
| 17 | 18 | Carlos Huertas (R) |
1:16.8105 |
84.363 |
Qual / Group 1 |
| 18 | 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya |
1:12.6994 |
89.134 |
Qual / Group 2 |
| 19 | 27 | James Hinchcliffe |
2.34.4862 |
41.945 |
Qual / Group 1 |
| 20 | 83 | Charlie Kimball |
1:13.0048 |
88.761 |
Qual / Group 2 |
| 21 | 15 | Graham Rahal |
No Time |
No Speed |
Qual / Group 1 |
| 22 | 67 | Josef Newgarden |
1:13.1170 |
88.625 |
Qual / Group 2 |
