Helio Castroneves hoists his Verizon P1 Award for winning the pole position in the ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway. [Chris Jones Photo]
Long Pond, Pa. – Helio Castroneves raced to the pole position for the ABC Supply 500, the penultimate race of the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season. The Brazilian had a two-lap average of 220.530 miles per hour around the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway, a track often known as the “Tricky Triangle.”
Driving the Shell V-Power Team Penske Chevrolet, the flashy Brazilian gained his fourth Verizon P1 Award of the season and the 45th of his career.
“It was a solid run. I can’t believe it,” said Castroneves. “With the wind picking up and the delay, you don’t know what is going to happen. The car was unbelievable; it was flawless. I didn’t lift, just kept going.”
Castroneves credited Rick Mears for his strong and continuing high-level performance. “It is all because of Rick and I am not done yet,” he commented. “I am full of energy, still love the sport and want to keep going. When you do your homework, records and things like that come natural.”
The powerful Team Penske swept the top three positions on the starting grid with Simon Pagenaud second fast at 220.485 mph and Will Power next at 220.398 mph. 2014 race winner and series point leader Juan Pablo Montoya had an off day, ending up 19th on the starting grid.
Commented Pagenaud, “It was an interesting run. The car was great. We had a bit of scrub in Turn 1, a bit of lift. We missed the balance there and we had too much tire degradation on the second lap to hold onto it. I am super proud of the guys and Team Penske, 1-2-3 qualifying.”
Josef Newgarden timed fourth fastest with title contender Graham Rahal in fifth.
Sixth through 10th were Carlos Munoz, Justin Wilson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Takuma Sato and Sebastien Bourdais.
Chevrolet and Honda each had five cars in top-10.
Pennsylvania favorite Marco Andretti had issues and qualified far back in 22nd.
Said Montoya about his dismal run, “You can’t really know what’s going to happen. We’ve done a really good job all year and like everybody else had ups and downs. We’ll see what happens, but it is what it is.”
During qualifications, Charlie Kimball crashed hard in Turn 3, first slamming the outer wall then climbing the wall and tearing out a portion of the catch fence before coming to rest right-side up in his demolished NovoLog Flex Pen Chevrolet out of the Chip Ganassi Racing Team stable.
The Californian immediately signaled he was okay. Once checked out by medical staff, he was judged to be fit except for a cut on his chin. Cleared by doctors, Kimball expects to race a back-up car on Sunday.
“I’m all right, just a little disappointed,” Kimball said. “I made some adjustments in Turn 1 and I don’t know if it was the wind or what that caught me in Turn3. Maybe I was a little aggressive, but it’s qualifying and you have to go for it.”
Interestingly, Kimball had registered the fastest speed in the lone practice session preceding qualifications.
On-track action was curtailed for 48 minutes while track staff repaired the damaged fence.
Stefano Coletti crashed during practice and did not take a qualification lap.
Sunday’s ABC Supply 500 will be telecast live by NBCSN at 2 p.m. ET.
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