via indycar.com
TORONTO, ON, June 13, 2015 - Reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Will Power earned his second consecutive Verizon P1 Award and fifth of the season by recording the quickest lap of the Firestone Fast Six during qualifications for the Honda Indy Toronto.
Power crossed the start-finish line to complete the lap of 59.4280 seconds on the 11-turn, 1.755-mile Exhibition Place street circuit with 5 seconds left in the 10-minute final segment of knockout qualifications.
Power, driving the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, overtook Rick Mears for fifth on the all-time Indy car list with his 41st pole. Teammate Helio Castroneves is the active leader with 43.
"Starting on the pole is great to keep out of any messes, and obviously Indy car races are never straightforward so it's just awesome to get the pole. It's a long (race) day and we'll see what we can do," said Power, who has won at Toronto in 2007 and 2010. "You've got to drive around here. It's all man-handling because you've got those slippery surfaces in the middle of the corners, so you've got to be on the wheel a lot."
Four Verizon IndyCar Series teams were represented in the Firestone Fast Six. Simon Pagenaud's best lap in the No. 22 Avaya Team Penske Chevrolet was .1815 of a second back for his second front-row start in a row and fourth this season.
"Qualifying has not been an issue. We've been in the fast six every session since the beginning of the season but it's executing in the end where things haven't gone our way," said Pagenaud, who has secured three top-five finishes in those six road/street course races and is 11th in the standings. "I think we had it but just made a little mistake when the tires were at their peak. But I'm happy with front row. I'm happy for Team Penske."
Verizon IndyCar Series championship points leader Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon, the winner June 6 at Texas Motor Speedway, will be on Row 2. It's the best start at Toronto for Montoya, who turned the quickest lap of the weekend of 59.4137 seconds in the second segment in the No. 2 PPG Automotive Refinish Team Penske Chevrolet.
Sebastien Bourdais, who won Race 1 of the Toronto doubleheader last year from the pole, qualified fifth in the No. 11 Team Hydroxycut-KVSH Racing Chevrolet. Luca Filippi qualified sixth in the No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka CFH Racing Chevrolet.
Only four-tenths of a second separated the drivers to advance to the Firestone Fast Six, and Power bumped Castroneves by 0.0018 of a second. Castroneves, who posted the quickest lap in the morning practice session in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, will start a season-low seventh.
NBCSN is on the air at 3 p.m. (ET) June 14 with the telecast of the 85-lap race. Real-time Timing & Scoring with the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network broadcast will be available at Racecontrol.indycar.com.
