All weekend long, Team Penske driver Simon Pagenaud has been fast. Saturday's qualifying session for the NTT IndyCar Series' Honda Indy Toronto was time for Pagenaud and Team Penske to flex their muscle. Despite never winning in Canada, Pagenaud is hungry and ready to cross that race off the bucket list. Pagenaud got off to a strong start, winning his second IndyCar P1 Award on the Streets of Toronto.
It was all Felix Rosenqvist in the first group. The rookie set a time of 58.7309 seconds, good enough to score the quickest time in the group. Sebastian Bourdais, Graham Rahal, Spencer Pigot and Marco Andretti also advanced from the session. Takuma Sato was able to move on despite being given a drive through penalty by the stewards for speeding on pit road.
Max Chilton, Santino Ferucci and Matheus Leist were knocked out of the first round. They were joined by Sage Karam, who is driving in a one-off for Carlin.
In a shocking turn of events, Will Power was knocked out, missing the second round for the first time since 2015.
The second group showed the prowess of another unlikely suspect: Ed Jones. The Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa driver set a time of 58.6011 seconds to claim the top spot in the group. Jones was joined in the Fast Twelve by Pagenaud, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden.
Despite nursing an upper-body injury, Scott Dixon was able to power through and book his ticket to round two.
James Hinchcliffe and Colton Herta were among two notable names knocked out, getting joined by Zach Veach, Marcus Ericsson and Tony Kanaan.
With 12 cars remaining, Team Penske once again flexed their muscle. This time, it was Newgarden leading the way with a time of 58.4129 seconds. Moving onto the Fast Six were Jones, Dixon, Sato, Rossi and Pagenaud. Of the Fast Six, Dixon and Newgarden are the only two drivers to have conquered the Streets of Toronto.
In a drama filled Firestone Fast Six, Dixon appeared to be in the catbird seat. With only two cars left on the track Dixon pushed hard before spinning just as the clock expired. Alexander Rossi smacked the wall trying to beat Dixon's time but in the end it was Simon Pagenaud who would set a blazing lap of 58.4293 seconds to claim his 13th career Series pole and second at Toronto.
"It was a matter of trying to do the best I could to get the tires going, putting myself in a good rythmn" Pagenaud said. "We have had pace all weekend, but we found near the end of the session that everyone was pushing to the maximum limit."
"Once we were in the Fast Six, I knew we had a good car," Pagenaud added "That last lap was definetly a fast one and we got maximum power out of our car."
A win at Toronto is one that has eluded the Montmorillon, France native, who has a best finish of second which he scored one year ago.
Pagenaud will be joined on the front row by Scott Dixon, who fortunately did not have his time invalidated after the spin.
The Honda Indy Toronto marks the 11th round of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series Season and the 11th consecutive year on the calendar. There are five former winners in the field in Dixon, Bourdais, Newgarden, Power & Hunter-Reay – Pagenaud is in a good place to join that list, as a front row starter has won the race five times in event history.
Discussion about this post