MADISON, Ill. – Two of the last three Indianapolis 500 winners are on the pole for the two races making up the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Will Power, the 2018 Indy 500 winner, was the fastest driver for Saturday’s race with a fast lap at 182.394 miles per hour in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske.
Takuma Sato, who won last Sunday’s 104th Indy 500 to score his second victory in the 500-Mile Race, starts on the pole for Sunday’s race.
Sato’s second lap was 182.499 mph in the No. 30 Abeam Consulting Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
IndyCar used the same qualifying format at the 1.25-mile short oval that it used at Iowa Speedway in July. The fastest first lap of the two-lap qualifications set the field for race one and the fastest second lap set the lineup for race two.
Power had the top spot for both race at 182.394 mph and 182.474 mph before Sato made his qualification attempt and took the pole for race two.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve had a car on pole on an oval,” Power said.
The lineup for race one has Power on pole followed by Pato O’Ward’s No. 5 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP at 182.076 mph. NTT IndyCar Series championship leader Scott Dixon’s Honda is third at 182.006 mph in the No. 9 PNC Bank machine.
Dixon starts alongside Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson’s Honda at 181.364 mph. Sato rounded out the top five for race one at 181.286 mph.
The lineup for Race 2 is led by Sato’s Honda. Defending NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden’s Chevrolet starts on the outside of Row at 182.477 mph in the No. 1 Shell Chevrolet for Team Penske.
Power is third for race two at 182.474 mph with O’Ward’s Chevrolet fourth at 182.280 mph.
Jack Harvey’s No. 60 SiriusXM/Auto Nation Honda rounds out the top five at 181.800 mph for Meyer Shank Racing.
The race one pole is Power’s second pole of 2020 and his 59th career NTT P1 Award, which ranks second on the all-time list. Power also won the pole this year for the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July.
It is Power’s second pole at World Wide Technology Raceway. He won the pole for the race in 2017.
The race one pole is Team Penske’s fifth pole position in 2020 and the team’s 276th pole position in Indy car racing. The team has won the NTT P1 Award at the three WWTR races where qualifying has been conducted since the NTT IndyCar Series returned in 2017.
The race two pole is Takuma Sato’s first NTT P1 Award of 2020 and the 10th of his Indy car career. It is Sato’s first pole at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Meanwhile, he race two pole is Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s fist pole of 2020 and the 33rd Indy car pole position in the history of the team. It is the first pole for the team since Sato claimed the NTT P1 Award at Texas in June of 2019.
Bommarito Automotive Group Race No. 1 is set for 3:30 p.m. ET Saturday, with the NBCSN telecast beginning at 3 p.m.