Power steals final pole of IndyCar's 2015 season with new track record at Sonoma - MotorSportsTalk

SONOMA, Calif. – The most frequent polesitter at Sonoma Raceway has done it again.

Will Power set a new track record of 1:16.2597 to eclipse Josef Newgarden, who had set the mark at 1:16.3964, to score his fifth pole in six years for the Verizon IndyCar Series at Sonoma dating to 2010. The only year he didn’t was in 2013, when Dario Franchitti scored his final pole position.

Power broke his own mark of 1:17.2393, set last year, although several others set the track record as the lap times fell. This is his fourth track record set this year in qualifying.

This is his sixth Verizon P1 Award of the season and 42nd pole position of his career.

All eyes are on @12WillPower as he captures the #GoProGP pole! #IndyCar pic.twitter.com/V60dzei8OY

— INDYCAR on NBCSN (@IndyCaronNBCSN) August 29, 2015

Ryan Hunter-Reay and Simon Pagenaud will be on row two, with the two top drivers in the championship, Juan Pablo Montoya and Graham Rahal, completing the Firestone Fast Six.

Qualifying Saturday for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 2.385-mile(s) Sonoma Raceway, with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, aero kit-engine, time and speed in parentheses:

1. (1) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:16.2597 (112.589)
2. (67) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 01:16.3964 (112.387)
3. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 01:16.5254 (112.198)
4. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 01:16.6683 (111.989)
5. (2) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 01:16.8437 (111.733)
6. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:17.1769 (111.251)
7. (83) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 01:16.6669 (111.991)
8. (27) Marco Andretti, Honda, 01:16.8710 (111.694)
9. (9) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 01:16.9677 (111.553)
10. (8) Sebastian Saavedra, Chevrolet, 01:17.1596 (111.276)
11. (10) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 01:17.2899 (111.088)
12. (26) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 01:17.3302 (111.030)
13. (20) Luca Filippi, Chevrolet, 01:17.1077 (111.351)
14. (77) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 01:17.3885 (110.947)
15. (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 01:17.2550 (111.138)
16. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 01:17.4310 (110.886)
17. (5) Ryan Briscoe, Honda, 01:17.4886 (110.803)
18. (14) Takuma Sato, Honda, 01:17.5599 (110.702)
19. (25) Oriol Servia, Honda, 01:17.5724 (110.684)
20. (4) Stefano Coletti, Chevrolet, 01:17.8293 (110.318)
21. (98) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 01:17.7994 (110.361)
22. (7) James Jakes, Honda, 01:17.8968 (110.223)
23. (19) Tristan Vautier, Honda, 01:17.9876 (110.094)
24. (18) Rodolfo Gonzalez, Honda, 01:18.3867 (109.534)
25. (41) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 01:19.0408 (108.627)

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Three riders remain locked in a tight battle with 17 points separating the leader Cooper Webb from third-place Chase Sexton and these are only a few Supercross numbers to consider entering Seattle.

Seattle Supercross numbers — *Chase Sexton made a statement in Detroit with his second win of 2023. – Feld Motor Sports*

For the fifth time in 10 rounds. Sexton, Webb, and Eli Tomac shared the podium in Detroit. Between them, the trio has taken 23 podiums, leaving only seven for the remainder of the field. Jason Anderson, Ken Roczen and Justin Barcia have two each with Aaron Plessinger scoring the other.

Webb and Tomac won the last four championships with two apiece in alternating years, but they were not one another’s primary rival for most of those seasons. On the average, however, the past four years show an incredible similarity with average points earned of 21.0 for Webb and 21.3 for Tomac. With five wins so far this season, Tomac (23 wins) leads Webb (19) in victories but Webb (43) edges Tomac (41) in podium finishes during this span.

Tomac has won two of the last three Seattle races and those two wins in this stadium are topped only by James Stewart. Fittingly, if Tomac gets a third win this week, he will tie Stewart for second on the all-time wins’ list. Tomac tied Ricky Carmichael for third with 48 wins at Oakland and took sole possession of that spot with his Daytona win.

Sexton still has a lot to say and after winning last week in Detroit, he is speaking up. The Supercross numbers are against him entering Seattle, however, because a points’ deficit this large after Round 10 has been erased only once. In 1983 David Bailey was 47 points behind Bob Hannah, and like Sexton he was also in third place. Bailey took the points’ lead with one race remaining.

The seven points Sexton was penalized last week for jumping in a red cross flag section in Detroit could prove extremely costly.

In fact, it has been a series of mistakes that has cost Sexton the most. In the last two weeks, he lost 10 points with a 10th-place finish to go with his penalty. Erase those, and all three riders hold their fate in their hands.

Plessinger’s heartbreak in Detroit is still fresh, but the upside of his run is that was his best of the season and could turn his fortunes around. Prior to that race, he led only seven laps in three mains. He was up front for 20 laps in Detroit with five of those being the fastest on the track.

Last week’s win by Hunter Lawrence tied him with his brother Jett Lawrence for 17th on the all-time wins’ list. With the focus shifting to 250 West for the next two rounds, Jett has a great opportunity to pull back ahead. The real test will be at the first East / West Showdown in East Rutherford, New Jersey on April 22.

Last Five Seattle Winners

450s
2022: Eli Tomac
2019: Marvin Musquin
2018: Eli Tomac
2017: Marvin Musquin
2014: Ryan Villopoto

250s
2022: Hunter Lawrence
2019: Dylan Ferrandis
2018: Aaron Plessinger
2017: Aaron Plessinger
2014: Cole Seely

By the Numbers

Detroit
Indianapolis
Daytona
Arlington
Oakland
Tampa
Houston
Anaheim 2
San Diego

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Results and points after Detroit
Chase Sexton wins in Detroit, penalized seven points