After winning the Honda Indy Toronto from the pole last weekend, Simon Pagenaud won the pole position for the Iowa 300 Friday afternoon with an average two-lap speed of 180.073 mph around the 0.894-mile Iowa Speedway.
The pole is the third of the season for the Frenchman, who also won the Indianapolis 500 from the pole in May.
“Awesome job form the team. The car was really good in quali,” Pagenaud told NBC Sports following his pole run. “It’s really tough. It’s 135 degrees on the racetrack, so to get the balance right is really complicated. Ben Bretzman [Pagenaud’s Crew Chief] did a great job setting it up.
“I just focused on my stuff and just really sent it, quite frankly. It was the most intense two laps I’ve ever lived.”
💪🏼💪🏼We put her on the pole in Iowa!! It may be hot but it’s also CRAZY FAST 🔥💨 #iowa300 #indycar pic.twitter.com/EbI6GOB0Tz
— Simon Pagenaud (@simonpagenaud) July 19, 2019
Teammate Will Power will start alongside Pagenaud in Row 1, qualifying second-fastest with an average speed of 179.589 mph. Josef Newgarden completed the Penske 1-2-3 sweep by qualifying third with an average speed of 179.449 mph.
Takuma Sato (179.449 mph) qualified fourth-fastest, while defending Iowa 300 winner James Hinchcliffe (176.200 mph) qualified fifth.
Alexander Rossi (176.057 mph) qualified sixth while Graham Rahal (175.857 mph), Scott Dixon (175.725 mph), Ryan Hunter-Reay (175.725 mph), and Marcus Ericsson (175.578 mph) qualified seventh through 10th.
Live coverage of the Iowa 300 begins tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. ET on NBCSN.