Will Power has beaten Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden to pole for the Honda Indy 200, after a busy qualifying session around the tricky Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
As qualifying progressed the battle between Honda and Chevrolet intensified, with Simon Pagenaud and Graham Rahal sharing the spoils after the two groups in the first round of qualifying.
Although Rahal managed to replicate his pace at the top during the second round, it wasn’t enough to question Penske’s authority in the all-important Firestone Fast Six.
Reigning Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato was the fastest Honda-powered driver overall in P3 for Andretti Autosport, with the Japanese racer’s weekend improving steadily with each session.
After topping his group in the first round and the second round overall Rahal was forced to settle for fourth after a busy end to qualifying, with the local hero just ahead of IndyCar veteran Helio Castroneves.
The Brazilian racer was the first driver to take to the track at the start of the final segment, but despite producing the initial benchmark he fell through the order towards the end.
Championship leader Scott Dixon rounded out the Firestone Fast Six in P6 for Chip Ganassi Racing, with the four-time champion creating a mouth-watering third row alongside championship rival Castroneves.
Reigning champion Pagenaud will line-up seventh for the 90-lap race, after the Frenchman was eliminated from the second round of qualifying after being unable to improve and book a place in the last part of qualifying.
James Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi could only manage P8 and P9 respectively, with Ryan Hunter-Reay rounding out the top ten after all three drivers were also unable to progress any further than the second round.
Further down the order Marco Andretti once again endured a frustrating qualifying session, with the Andretti Autosport racer initially rising to the top of his group before falling down the order and being eliminated, qualifying a lowly P14 on the grid.
During the first group in round one Tony Kanaan was penalised after causing a local yellow and impeding several drivers, with race control deleting his lap time which initially saw him progress to round two.
However, once his time had been deleted the Brazilian veteran found himself well within the drop zone, with Conor Daly promoted to the next round in his place.
Kanaan will start the race from P17 after his misdemeanour, with the back row consisting of Carlos Munoz and Mikhail Aleshin.
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