Will Power on pole in St Petersburg

Qualifying for the St Petersburg Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2019 season, took place in summery weather to say the least.IndyCar Series.

Group 1 Q1 was quickly interrupted, with Marco Andretti stopping at the entrance to the pit lane. When the green flag is waved, the countdown shows 3'25 and all the competitors rush onto the track but with 2' to go, another red flag following the exit of Santino Ferrucci (Dale Coyne Racing / Honda). Very bad news for his teammate Sébastien Bourdais, who was unable to complete a single thrown lap. simon pagenaud (Team Penske / Chevrolet) is barely better off since it is the first eliminated. “ What can I do about it? Nothing, underlined the Poitevin with a smile. It's just frustrating because we had a great car this morning during FP3 (4th time. Editor's note) but above all, as a driver, qualifying is the session during which the car is most pleasant to drive, with a high level of grip and little fuel in the tank. It's a shame, but we'll be there tomorrow! » The surprise in the contingent of qualifiers for Q2 is Ben Hanley (DragonSpeed ​​/ Chevrolet), who has been struggling since the start of the meeting but helped a lot by the circumstances. Clearly, the fact that the clock is not stopped under a red flag is very detrimental to the show.

Q1 Group 1 ranking:

The surprise in the second group this time comes from the elimination of five-time champion Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing / Honda). But lucky, the New Zealander was finally drafted a few seconds after the end of Q1, Takuma Sato (RLL / Honda) seeing his best time canceled for having caused a yellow flag. A curious decision when you know that Dixon also caused a yellow flag. These 10 minutes of driving are dominated by Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport / Honda), who is ahead of rookie Colton Herta (Harding Steinbrenner Racing / Honda), who never ceases to surprise. For his first qualifications in the series, Marcus Ericsson (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports / Honda) saw the ax fall in Q1.

Q1 Group 2 ranking:

Not one to miss the opportunities offered to him, Dixon set the 5th time in Q2 and moved into Q3 or Firestone Fast Six. He is accompanied by Josef Newgarden (Team Penske / Chevrolet), Will Power (Team Penske / Chevrolet), Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport / Honda), Alexander Red (Andretti Autosport / Honda) and Felix Rosenqvist (Chip Ganassi Racing / Honda). The latter benefited from the penalty imposed on Colton Herta. While he was on course to easily pass into Q3, the young American saw his two best times canceled for having hampered Charlie Kimball (Carlin / Chevrolet). “ I was not informed of his arrival, he declared in disappointment. I only saw him when he was level with me. I feel sorry for him. We then tried to do enough laps to save the day, but we left too late. »

Q2 ranking:

During the Firestone Fast Six, Felix Rosenqvist remained at the top for a long time. But the front row of the 2019 edition of the St Petersburg Grand Prix was ultimately monopolized by Team Penske, Will Power stealing pole position from his teammate Josef Newgarden in the final seconds of the session. The second row is locked by Chip Ganassi Racing, but the surprise comes from the fact that the rookie Rosenqvist managed to beat his teammate Scott Dixon even though it was only his first qualification in the category. Following in the third row are two Andretti Autosport single-seaters, which we expected to be more energetic. Ryan Hunter-Reay is fifth, just ahead of Alexander Rossi.

Firestone Fast Six Ranking:

Having withdrawn yesterday, Team Penske returned to business and took its 264th pole position in IndyCar. But the most impressive statistic is to the credit of Will Power, absolute reference in the category in the flying trick exercise. The Australian, winner of the 2018 edition of Indy 500, took his 55th pole position, his 8th in the streets of St Petersburg. Still, starting on pole doesn't bring luck here.

On the French side (Pagenaud will start 13th and Bourdais 19th) to believe it, you just have to look back at the last two editions. Two years ago, Sébastien Bourdais won after starting last, before signing the pass of two last year when he found himself at the back of the pack at the end of the first lap after having been hit by his teammate Zachary Claman DeMelo.

The start of the race will be given tomorrow at 18:30 p.m. French time.

Final qualifying standings: