Will puts on another Power-ful qualifying display for Indy GP
INDIANAPOLIS – Amid his joy at pulling off a qualifying effort that helped soothe a difficult early season, Conor Daly looked at the results Friday and marveled at what he saw at the top of the chart.
Will Power, again, proved his mastery of the flying lap to win the pole position for Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the 64th pole in Power’s career, pulling him within three of Mario Andretti’s IndyCar record.
Power’s lap of 1:09.7664 in his Team Penske Chevrolet was literally a blink better than Alex Palou’s 1:09.8090 in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Penske driver Josef Newgarden was third at 1:09.8343, followed by Daly's surprising and inspiring effort at 1:09.9063 in his Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet.
“Being two-tenths off Will Power for a pole position, he’s one of the best to do it here,” Daly said. “This is where we want to be moving forward.”
It’s a huge step forward for Daly after struggles in the first four races this season, when he qualified 20th at St. Petersburg, 16th on the oval at Texas, 17th at Long Beach and 22nd at Barber Motorsports Park. Daly has been fast before on the IMS road course, qualifying sixth and eighth in the two races last year.
“There’s no question I’ve struggled with this generation of car,” he said. “But there’s certain places where every driver has their better tracks and their worse tracks. Apparently here, I remember how to drive. The car here feels fast and it does what I want. It’s been a difficult window to find at other circuits, but for whatever reason, here it suits my style more than other places.”
He’ll start on the outside of the second row, behind Palou.
“I’m going to hope (Palou) gets a nice jump and we can follow each other into Turn 1 nicely,” Daly said.
It might take a double-team like that to get past Power, who won the pole on his final lap during the Fast Six qualifying session. It continued to cement his status as one of IndyCar’s all-time great qualifiers, although it’s his first pole since the season-ending race in St. Petersburg in 2020.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been on a pole on a road course,” Power said. “As usual, it was crazy close with everyone. I couldn’t leave anything on the table. It has become incredibly hard to get poles. It’s a different guy each week that gets it all together.”
It was no surprise to Palou, the defending IndyCar season champion and current points leader.
“I mean, it’s Will Power,” the 25-year-old said of the 41-year-old. “He probably has more poles than I do races in single-seaters.”
Power’s secret? He credits the preparation by Team Penske, and also an ability to find another level of desire when it’s time to post a pole-winning lap.
“There is just so much that goes into it before you get into the car,” he said. “Then it’s up to you to dig deep and put it together. In my early days, I used to say anyone can learn to do this. But after 20 years of high-level driving, I don’t believe that anymore. You have to have fire in the belly.”
Follow Kirby Arnold on Twitter @KirbyArnold.