INDIANAPOLIS — Age and wisdom have not slowed Will Power down.
Despite being nearly 10 years older than the second-oldest participant in the final round of qualifying for Saturday’s (May 14) GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, the 41-year-old earned his 64th pole position in IndyCar competition.
Power’s lap of 1 minute, 9.7664 seconds averaged out to 125.854 mph around the 14 turn, 2.439 mile road course and was met with reserved elation from the 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner.
“That’s the fun of this series, man, it’s so tight,” Power said to NBC’s Marty Snider after qualifying. “When you get a pole these days, you know you’ve done a really good job and the team’s done a great job, so [I’m] super stoked. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a pole on a road course and yeah, man, I worked hard for that one.”
The journey to pole position began in the first group of round one. With the fastest six drivers advancing, Power set the fastest time in that group of 1 minute, 9.5544 seconds. After both qualifying groups finished round one, all eyes were on round two to see which of the 12 participating drivers would advance to the Firestone Fast Six.
The No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet was fourth fastest in round two with a lap of 1 minute, 9.4905 seconds, just .0791 seconds slower than Alex Palou’s second round-leading lap.
However, Power would not be denied as the 2014 IndyCar Series champion scored his sixth pole position on the IMS road course. If Power qualifies on pole three more times, he will tie Mario Andretti on the all-time IndyCar pole position list with 67, a record that has stayed at that mark since the 1993 Michigan 500.
Reflection makes this pole position that much sweeter. After scoring five poles in 2020, Power had only one pole position in 2021, keeping him that much further from Andretti’s record.
“I feel so privileged to have gotten so close to [Andretti],” Power said on pit road. “I…
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