Will Power Wins Pole for Indy GP, Inches Closer to Mario Andretti’s All-Time Record

Will Power captured the pole for tomorrow’s GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

The 41-year-old Australian drove his No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet to record a lap time of 1m0.7664s around the track where he is tied for most victories with three.

It’s the sixth career pole on the IMS Road Course for Power, which ups his total pole positions to 64. He is now three away from tying Mario Andretti, the all-time pole winner in the NTT IndyCar Series.

“That’s the fun of this series, it’s so tight,” Power said, via Peacock. “You get the poles these days, you know you’ve done a really good job. The team’s done a great job. Super stoked, been a long time since I have had a pole on a road course. Worked really hard for that one.

“Yeah, I mean I feel so privileged to have got so close to him (Mario Andretti). I never thought I’d get there, but yes three away, obviously an absolute legend of the sport. It would be such an honor to match him or surpass him. To be up there with names like Mario Andretti and AJ Foyt is something I wouldn’t have imagined when I started my career.”

Alex Palou will start alongside on the front row, he was nipped by Power in the closing seconds of the Fast Six. The Chip Ganassi Racing pilot was 0.0426s off the top spot.

Josef Newgarden will roll off third sitting 0.0679s slower than his Penske teammate. Conor Daly has a breath of fresh air with his best qualifying run of the season, starting fourth.

“This team has done a lot of work for me,” Daly said, via Peacock. “I don’t think they have gotten the credit they deserve so far this year. We’ve not had a great to start to the season, but there’s a lot of it that’s not been their fault at all or our fault at all as a group. I think this is where we want to be moving forward and its a great way to start during May.”

A pair of Arrow McLaren SP drivers, Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist round out the Fast Six competitors with fifth and sixth.

It was a calm Round 2 session and a pair rookies shined as Callum Ilott and Christian Lundgaard grabbed seventh and eighth. Ilott put together two straight Round 2 appearances, besting the eliminated drivers in his eighth career race.

“Well, I knew it was going to be close, but yeah a bit of a shame with that,” Ilott said, via Peacock. “Overall, that was a much more rewarding run. I tried everything, honestly I think we made a mega effort to do that.”

Scott McLaughlin, starting 11th, was eliminated in Round 2 for the first time this season. The No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet pilot is between the subtle rivalry of Romain Grosjean and Graham Rahal, who start 10th and 12th, nose-to-tail with each other.

The Group 1 and 2 opening round had some surprises being left out of advancing. Defending race winner Rinus VeeKay, along with Scott Dixon, Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi and Marcus Ericsson were all eliminated and will start no better than 13th.

The Andretti Autosport teammates, Herta and Rossi, both reached Round 2 in the last two race weekends. That includes Herta’s pole at Long Beach and Rossi having a pair of fifth-place starting spots.

It’s three consecutive race weekends that Dixon has not made it to Round 2.

Up Next: Warm-up on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. ET, with live coverage on Peacock, IndyCar Live and the IndyCar Radio Network.