Kanaan Paces Honda Effort in Phoenix
- Tony Kanaan qualifies sixth for Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing
- Mikhail Aleshin will start seventh, best qualifying performance of 2017
- First oval, and first Saturday night IndyCar Series race of season
AVONDALE, Ariz. – Tony Kanaan led the way for Honda in qualifying Friday at Phoenix International Raceway, and will start sixth in Saturday night's Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix.
Kanaan led a block of all 13 Honda drivers, who will start sixth through 18th in the 21-car field on Saturday. Mikhail Aleshin, in his best qualifying performance of 2017, will start seventh for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, followed by defending race winner Scott Dixon, eighth. Marco Andretti and St. Petersburg race winner Sebastien Bourdais rounded out the top 10 for Honda.
Saturday night's 250-lap race, the first oval round of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series, starts at 8 p.m. EDT, with live coverage on the NBC Sports Network.
Tony Kanaan (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Qualified 6th: "We had a good qualifying today. The NTT DATA Honda looks fast, and I'm happy with where we're starting tomorrow. I have a strong track record here at Phoenix, so I definitely think we can get around those guys in front of us tomorrow and win from sixth."
Mikhail Aleshin (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda) Qualified 7th: "We had an issue [with the dashboard readout] during our run. Not the best issue to have, especially during qualifying. The car was really good, and the problem happened [at the] last minute, so it was too late to solve it. Anyway, I'm happy with where we are at the moment, so we'll see how the rest of qualifying goes and where we end up tomorrow."
Verizon IndyCar Series Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix Circuit: Phoenix International Raceway (1-mile oval) Avondale, Ariz. 2015 Winner: Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) 139.822 mph average Weather: Clear, mild, 72 degrees F
Top-12 Qualifying Results:
| Ps. |
Driver |
Team |
Manufacturer |
Total Time |
Average Speed |
|
1. |
Helio Castroneves |
Team Penske |
Chevrolet |
37.7538 |
194.905 mph |
|
2. |
Will Power |
Team Penske |
Chevrolet |
37.9266 |
194.017 |
|
3. |
JR Hildebrand |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
Chevrolet |
37.9471 |
193.912 |
|
4. |
Josef Newgarden |
Team Penske |
Chevrolet |
37.9933 |
193.676 |
|
5. |
Simon Pagenaud |
Team Penske |
Chevrolet |
38.0449 |
193.414 |
|
6. |
Tony Kanaan |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
Honda |
38.2178 |
192.539 |
|
7. |
Mikhail Aleshin |
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
Honda |
38.2599 |
192.327 |
|
8. |
Scott Dixon |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
Honda |
38.3151 |
192.050 |
|
9. |
Marco Andretti |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
38.4478 |
191.387 |
|
10. |
Sebastien Bourdais |
Dale Coyne Racing |
Honda |
38.4554 |
191.349 |
|
11. |
James Hinchcliffe |
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
Honda |
38.4866 |
191.194 |
|
12. |
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
38.5663 |
190.799 |
Other Honda Results
| 13. |
Max Chilton |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
Honda |
38.5725 |
190.768 |
|
14. |
Charlie Kimball |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
Honda |
38.6136 |
190.565 |
|
15. |
Alexander Rossi |
Andretti Herta Autosport |
Honda |
38.6461 |
190.405 |
|
16. |
Ed Jones-R |
Dale Coyne Racing |
Honda |
38.7226 |
190.029 |
|
17. |
Graham Rahal |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
Honda |
38.7721 |
189.786 |
|
18. |
Takuma Sato |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
38.7736 |
189.779 |
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