Bourdais, Honda take Phoenix Pole
- Sebastien Bourdais follows up season-opening St. Petersburg win with Phoenix pole
- Honda drivers claim six of top 10 qualifying spots
- Saturday night contest, first oval race of 2018, starts at 9 p.m. EDT
Sebastien Bourdais, winner of last month's season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, sped to the pole in Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying Friday at ISM Raceway in preparation for Saturday night's Desert Diamond Phoenix Grand Prix.
The final driver in the 23-car field to make a qualifying run, Bourdais edged Simon Pagenaud to claim his 34th career pole, his first on an oval track since Milwaukee in 2006 and the first oval pole for his Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan effort.
Alexander Rossi took his Andretti Autosport Honda to fourth in today's single-car qualifying, with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports teammates James Hinchcliffe and Robert Wickens lining up fifth and sixth, respectively. Ryan Hunter-Reay will start eighth for Honda and Andretti Autosport, with rookie Pietro Fittipaldi making his IndyCar debut tomorrow night from 10th in the field.
Television coverage of Saturday night's 250-lap race, the first oval event of 2018, starts at 9 p.m. EDT on the NBC Sports Network.
Sebastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda) pole qualifier, 34th career IndyCar pole: "Qualifying [on the pole] was pretty big, knowing what [time] I had to go and get. I knew it was going to take it flat in [Turns] 3 and 4, and I wasn't quite sure about [Turns] 1 and 2, how much I needed to dig, but the car was really solid. It's high tension, high pressure. You don't breathe very much, you just are really listening to the car, trying to make sure you don't overdo it."
Desert Diamond Phoenix Grand Prix
Circuit: ISM Raceway (1.02-mile oval) Avondale, AZ 2017 Winner: Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske) 144.058 mph average Weather: Sunny, warm, 88 degrees F
Top-10 Qualifying Results:
| Ps. |
Driver |
Team |
Manufacturer |
Speed mph |
Notes |
|
1. |
Sebastien Bourdais |
Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan |
Honda |
188.539 |
|
|
2. |
Simon Pagenaud |
Team Penske |
Chevrolet |
188.148 |
|
|
3. |
Will Power |
Team Penske |
Chevrolet |
186.852 |
|
|
4. |
Alexander Rossi |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
186.824 |
|
|
5. |
James Hinchcliffe |
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
Honda |
185.741 |
|
|
6. |
Robert Wickens-R |
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
Honda |
185.362 |
|
|
7. |
Josef Newgarden |
Team Penske |
Chevrolet |
185.279 |
|
|
8. |
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
184.706 |
|
|
9. |
Tony Kanaan |
A.J. Foyt Racing |
Chevrolet |
184.595 |
|
|
10. |
Pietro Fittipaldi-R |
Dale Coyne Racing |
Honda |
184.548 |
|
Other Honda Results
| 11. |
Ed Jones |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
Honda |
184.313 |
|
|
12. |
Graham Rahal |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
Honda |
183.920 |
|
|
13. |
Takuma Sato |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
Honda |
182.960 |
|
|
17. |
Scott Dixon |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
Honda |
181.804 |
|
|
20. |
Marco Andretti |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
180.199 |
|
|
23. |
Zach Veach-Ri |
Andretti Autosport |
Honda |
175.733 |
|
# # #
Legal Disclaimer:
EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
