Helio Castroneves was the last of 22 cars to take their 4 lap process in qualifications and posted the fastest time to capture the Verizon P1 Pole Award to gain one point on Points leader and team-mate, Will Power (51 to 50 point lead). Will Power only managed to place P21 out of 22 cars ... thanks to God there are 500 miles to complete in the race AND it is an oval he won at last year. As the numbers go, Will Power has to finish within 6 positions behind or better from his chief rival, Helio Castroneves, in order to capture his first Verizon IndyCar Championship ... and be the first ever driver who transitioned from Champ Car World Series during the merger to capture the championship. In the next to last last image, Beau Barfield sends out the last car to qualify and the last image is Helio with daughter in to share the moment of his triumph with the media ... ... Images Credit: Edmund Jenks (2014) From Verizon IndyCar PR: Helio Castroneves earned the Verizon P1 Award for the Verizon IndyCar Series championship-deciding MAVTV 500 at Auto Club Speedway. The pole was the 41st of Castroneves career, breaking a tie with four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears for fourth all-time in Indy car history. Castroneves, the last of 22 qualifiers, recorded a two-lap average of 218.540 mph in the No. 3 AAA Southern California Team Penske car on the 2-mile oval as the track temperature reached 134 degrees. Castroneves earned one bonus point for the pole and trails championship front-runner and teammate Will Power by 50 points entering the 250-lap season finale. The final leg of the Triple Crown series is worth double points. Teammate Juan Pablo Montoya recorded a two-lap average of 217.621 mph in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske car to qualify second. Josef Newgarden, driving the No. 67 Hartman Oil/Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car, also qualified on the front row (217.600 mph) for the three-wide start. It aint over; its just beginning, said Castroneves, who earned his third pole of the season and third since 2003 at Auto Club Speedway. Our job is to be aggressive over the 500 miles and finish where we started. Power, driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, qualified a season-low 21st with a two-lap average of 212.604 mph. Simon Pagenaud of Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports, the third driver eligible for the championship, qualified 13th at 215.752 mph. With the starting position, Id rather start at the very front or the very back to stay out of trouble early on, Power said. Its obviously all about the race; its very long and well be racing in different conditions. Power earned the pole for the October 2013 race at Auto Club Speedway with an average speed of 220.775 mph - a two-lap track record - and went on to win for the first time on a super-speedway. Team owner Roger Penske is aiming for his 13th Indy car championship since 1977 with Tom Sneva and the first since 2006 with Sam Hornish Jr. I always tell our guys if one driver wins the team wins, Penske said. We got here because it was a team effort.
Posted on: Sat, 30 Aug 2014 01:27:43 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015