Takuma Sato takes RLL double in qualifying in Alabama

After free practice, it was expected that a car powered by the block Honda dominates the qualifications of the Alabama Grand Prix at Barber Motorosports Park, and the session actually smiled on the Japanese engine manufacturer, and the Team RLL with a double for Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal.

The Japanese, winner of the Indy 500 in 2017, set the time benchmark for Fast 6 this Saturday evening in 1'08"593 and precedes his teammate Rahal by 103 thousandths.

POLE for @TakumaSatoRacer! pic.twitter.com/Dva4EDYyEd

— IndyCar on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) April 6, 2019

Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda) will start on the second row alongside James Hinchcliffe (SPM – Honda), while Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan – Honda) completes the Honda top 5 ahead of Spencer Pigot (Ed Carpenter Racing), the sole representative of the Chevrolet clan in Fast 6.

The American engine block seems to be behind on this track compared to its competitor, as evidenced by the disappointing results of the Penske armada in qualifying.

Almost extremely rare, no single-seater from Roger Penske's team made it into Fast 6, a first since Long Beach 2014. Only Will Power managed to pass the first part of qualifying, but did not was able to set one of the six best times in Q2, falling 38 thousandths behind Sébastien Bourdais.

Power will start 7th ahead of Alexander Red (Andretti Autosport – Honda), Colton Herta (Harding Steinbrenner Racing – Honda) and Santino Ferrucci (Dale Coyne Racing).

simon pagenaud, winner of the event in 2016, will start from 14th position, while Josef Newgarden, winner of three of the last four editions (2015, 2017, 2018), will start from 16th place.

Ranking Qualifications