Penske’s Will Power stormed to pole position at Mid-Ohio with a late flying lap that proved nearly four tenths quicker than Andretti Autosport IndyCar rival Alexander Rossi’s best effort.
Rossi looked set to secure the top spot in the closing seconds of the Fast Six session, having shaved two tenths from his prior session-leading benchmark, lapping the 2.2-mile Mid-Ohio circuit in 1m05.531s.
But was Power was the last driver to set a flying lap and he powered to pole position with a 1m05.156s lap.
Championship leader Josef Newgarden secured third ahead of team-mate Simon Pagenaud to make it three Penske-run cars in the top four, while Dale Coyne Racing’s Sebastian Bourdais and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top six.
Bourdais and Rosenqvist decided to forego their first runs in the Fast Six in an attempt to save tyres for their final attempts, but were unable to get up to speed and were both over a second in arrears of Power’s pole time.
Rosenquist was fortunate to make it to the Fast 12 following an issue after his Ganassi-run car entered its emergency mode as he exited the pits.
He was then able to restore the car to its normal qualifying settings and posted the fourth quickest time in his group one running.
Combined practice pacesetter Colton Herta failed to make it into the Fast Six by just 0.003, limiting him to seventh on the grid as a result, just ahead of reigning IndyCar champion Scott Dixon.
Jack Harvey will start an impressive ninth for Meyer-Shank Racing, ahead of both Schmidt Petersen Motorsport stablemates James Hinchcliffe and Marcus Ericsson, who could only manage 11th and 12th fastest behind Andretti’s Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Both Rahal Letterman Lannigan Racing machines failed to reach the top 12, past winner Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato securing 15th and 17th respectively.
The returning RC Enerson – competing for Carlin this weekend – will start 22nd ahead of Tony Kanaan, having posted a time just three tenths slower than team-mate Max Chilton, who will start 16th.
Qualifying result
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Will Power | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1m05.1569s |
| 2 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 0.3748s |
| 3 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 0.6316s |
| 4 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 0.7389s |
| 5 | Sebastien Bourdais | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1.0471s |
| 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 1.3345s |
| 7 | Colton Herta | Harding Racing | Dallara/Honda | 0.4081s |
| 8 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Honda | 0.5430s |
| 9 | Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | Dallara/Honda | 0.5662s |
| 10 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 0.5759s |
| 11 | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 0.5998s |
| 12 | Marcus Ericsson | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 0.8859s |
| 13 | Spencer Pigot | Ed Carpenter Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 0.7808s |
| 14 | Santino Ferrucci | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 0.6019s |
| 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 0.8176s |
| 16 | Max Chilton | Carlin | Dallara/Chevrolet | 0.8412s |
| 17 | Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 1.2154s |
| 18 | Ed Jones | Ed Carpenter Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1.0231s |
| 19 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Herta | Dallara/Honda | 1.2587s |
| 20 | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 1.0546s |
| 21 | Matheus Leist | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1.3919s |
| 22 | R.C. Enerson | Carlin | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1.1627s |
| 23 | Tony Kanaan | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Chevrolet | 1.8922s |