POWER POLE FOR INDYCAR’S OPENER

AUSTRALIAN Will Power has claimed pole for the seasonopening IndyCar race in Florida with Team Penske taking out the front row.

Power continued his amazing decade of dominance in qualifying for the Grand Prix of St Petersburg with an eighth pole position and 55th of his career, second on the all-time list behind Mario Andretti.

Roger Penske was on Power’s radio when he shot to the top of the board and the 82-year-old team owner gave a hearty “Woooo!” to celebrate.

“That last run, the car felt really good,” Power told the official IndyCar website.

“I have to say it was a very neat lap and I didn’t really leave anything on the table.

“Honestly, I didn’t expect to be on pole because we had used [Firestone alternate] tyres. We didn’t have new [alternate tyres] like a couple of the other guys so, over the moon, man, over the moon to start on pole. I’m really happy.”

Power led the Team Penske one-two in qualifying with Josef Newgarden qualifying second. The second row today belongs to Chip Ganassi Racing. Felix Rosenqvist will start third in his IndyCar debut alongside reigning series champion Scott Dixon.

Rosenqvist and Dixon made it through qualifying because of penalties to two other drivers. Dixon made it out of the first round when Takuma Sato’s time was disallowed.