Front Row Start for Wickens, Honda at INDYCAR Grand Prix
- Robert Wickens qualifies second for Saturday's 85-lap Indianapolis Motor Speedway road-course event
- Sebastien Bourdais and James Hinchcliffe will start third and fourth for Honda
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Robert Wickens again belied his status as a Verizon IndyCar Series rookie, qualifying second for Saturday's INDYCAR Grand Prix. Wickens piloted his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda through all three rounds of qualifying on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, and ended the day just eighth-hundredths of a second off pole qualifier Will Power.
Sebastien Bourdais, winner of the Verizon IndyCar Series St. Petersburg season opener, will start on the inside of the second row, third, for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan. Wickens' teammate, James Hinchcliffe, will start fourth to complete the second row of the grid. Long Beach race winner Alexander Rossi and defending Indianapolis 500 champion Takuma Sato both advanced through the first round of qualifying, and will start eighth and 11th, respectively. Saturday's 85-lap INDYCAR Grand Prix starts at 3:30 p.m. EDT, with live broadcast television coverage on ABC.
Robert Wickens (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda) qualified second for Saturday's INDYCAR Grand Prix: "It was a great job by the SPM guys - we got both cars in the Firestone Fast Six. I'm a bit gutted with P2… We're obviously on the front row, but when you lead the whole qualifying [Rounds one and two], you want to finish like that. It was close. I ended up losing a few hundredths [of a second] in the end. You have to do the perfect job to get the pole here, but I'm happy to be back in the Fast Six. Tomorrow's a whole new can of worms…let's go play."
Verizon IndyCar Series INDYCAR Grand Prix Circuit: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.439-mile road course) Indianapolis, IN 2017 Winner: Will Power (Team Penske) 120.813 mph average Weather: Mostly sunny, mild, 71 degrees F
Top-12 Qualifying Results:
| Ps. | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Best Time | Notes |
| 1 | Will Power | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:09.8 | |
| 2 | Robert Wickens-R | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Honda | 01:09.9 | +0.0870 seconds |
| 3 | Sebastien Bourdais | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan | Honda | 01:09.9 | Fast Six Final Qualifying |
| 4 | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Honda | 01:10.1 | Fast Six Final Qualifying |
| 5 | Jordan King-R | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 01:10.1 | Fast Six Final Qualifying |
| 6 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:10.7 | Fast Six Final Qualifying |
| 7 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:10.0 | 2nd Round Qualifying |
| 8 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 01:10.1 | 2nd Round Qualifying |
| 9 | Spencer Pigot | Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 01:10.2 | 2nd Roundl Qualifying |
| 10 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:10.2 | 2nd Round Qualifying |
| 11 | Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Honda | 01:10.2 | 2nd Round Qualifying |
| 12 | Tony Kanaan | A.J. Foyt Racing | Chevrolet | 01:19.4 | 2nd Round Qualifying |
| Other Honda Results | |||||
| 13 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 01:10.1 | 1st Round, Group 1 |
| 14 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 01:10.1 | 1st Round, Group 2 |
| 15 | Ed Jones | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:10.3 | 1st Round, Group 1 |
| 17 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Honda | 01:10.4 | 1st Round, Group 2 |
| 18 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:10.3 | 1st Round, Group 2 |
| 19 | Zachary Claman DeMelo-R | Dale Coyne Racing | Honda | 01:10.5 | 1st Round, Group 1 |
| 20 | Zach Veach-R | Andretti Autosport | Honda | 01:10.3 | 1st Round, Group 2 |
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