Pagenaud takes pole for first Houston race
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| Simon Pagenaud |
Simon Pagenaud has taken pole for Race 1 of the Shell Pennzoil GP of Houston stealing it on the last lap from the race sponsors car Helio Castroneves, which is painted with the traditional bright yellow Pennzoil colors.
It was the first pole for Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports since June 2011. Pagenaud, who won the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 10 from the fourth starting position, turned a quick lap of 59.3716 seconds in the 10-minute Fast-Six session.
"The car is awesome and has been all weekend," Pagenaud said. "It's going to be a long and physical race, but we'll be ready."
Scott Dixon will start third for Ganassi Racing ahead of Luca Filippi who came in off the bench and showed up a lot of the regulars.
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| Helio Castroneves on the yellow Pennzoil car |
Six different teams were represented in the Firestone Fast Six. Pagenaud is the seventh different pole sitter in the nine races.
James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top-5 as Honda dominated with 8 of the top-12 starting positions.
Takuma Sato will start 6th for AJ Foyt Racing ahead of Justin Wilson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sebastien Bourdais and Mikhail Aleshin.
Scott Dixon had his best qualifying result of the 2014 season, while Luca Filippi qualified a career-best fourth. He is competing in his fifth Verizon IndyCar Series race and first with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
More to follow……
Lineup and Tire Choice
| SP | Car | Driver | Engine | Tire |
| 1 | 77 | Pagenaud, Simon | Honda | Alternate |
| 2 | 3 | Castroneves, Helio | Chevy | Alternate |
| 3 | 9 | Dixon, Scott | Chevy | Alternate |
| 4 | 16 | Filippi, Luca(R) | Honda | Alternate |
| 5 | 27 | Hinchcliffe, James | Honda | Alternate |
| 6 | 14 | Sato, Takuma | Honda | Alternate |
| 7 | 19 | Wilson, Justin | Honda | Alternate |
| 8 | 28 | Hunter-Reay, Ryan | Honda | Alternate |
| 9 | 11 | Bourdais, Sebastien | Chevy | Alternate |
| 10 | 7 | Aleshin, Mikhail(R) | Honda | Alternate |
| 11 | 2 | Montoya, Juan Pablo | Chevy | Alternate |
| 12 | 67 | Newgarden, Josef | Honda | Alternate |
| 13 | 83 | Kimball, Charlie | Chevy | Alternate |
| 14 | 15 | Rahal, Graham | Honda | Alternate |
| 15 | 8 | Briscoe, Ryan | Chevy | Alternate |
| 16 | 25 | Andretti, Marco | Honda | Alternate |
| 17 | 20 | Conway, Mike | Chevy | Alternate |
| 18 | 12 | Power, Will | Chevy | Alternate |
| 19 | 18 | Huertas, Carlos(R) | Honda | Alternate |
| 20 | 17 | Saavedra, Sebastian | Chevy | Primary |
| 21 | 98 | Hawksworth, Jack(R) | Honda | Alternate |
| 22 | 10 | Kanaan, Tony | Chevy | Alternate |
| 23 | 34 | Munoz, Carlos(R) | Honda | Alternate |
Results
1. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 59.3716 (99.078)
2. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 59.4463 (98.953)
3. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevy, 59.5034 (98.858)
4. (16) Luca Filippi, Dallara-Honda, 59.5523 (98.777)
5. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 59.6528 (98.611)
6. (14) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 01:00.4037 (97.385)
7. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 59.4245 (98.989)
8. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 59.5107 (98.846)
9. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 59.6126 (98.677)
10. (7) Mikhail Aleshin, Dallara-Honda, 59.7003 (98.532)
11. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevy, 59.9649 (98.097)
12. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 01:00.0312 (97.989)
13. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevy, 01:00.1291 (97.830)
14. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 01:00.2491 (97.635)
15. (8) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 01:00.2124 (97.694)
16. (25) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 01:00.3295 (97.505)
17. (20) Mike Conway, Dallara-Chevy, 01:00.2358 (97.656)
18. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 01:00.3670 (97.444)
19. (18) Carlos Huertas, Dallara-Honda, 01:00.3106 (97.535)
20. (17) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 01:00.4224 (97.355)
21. (98) Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda, 01:00.4203 (97.358)
22. (10) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 01:00.6919 (96.922)
23. (34) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda, 01:00.4734 (97.273)