Fontana – Qualifications: 1st pole on oval for Pagenaud

Simon Pagenaud is clearly one of the fastest drivers on the grid, in the strong team of the moment. Unfortunately, luck is not on his side this year, and he will not be able to compete for the title at the end of the season, the first time since his arrival in IndyCar. Nevertheless, his performances are indisputable. He was in contention for victory at the Indianapolis 500 and has always been very fast in qualifying, regardless of the track: oval, road, street circuit.

352 km/h

Fontana is one of the fastest ovals in IndyCar. The 2-mile (3.2 km) track and the 14° corner banking allow for average speeds of over 350 km/h in one lap. Pagenaud’s pole position is 352.3 km/h.

As always on an oval, going off track is immediately penalized with a withdrawal. This weekend, with the Californian heat, the track surface is particularly slippery and makes driving more challenging.

4 comebacks on track

4 drivers are back on the oval:

– Ryan Briscoe, après sa déconvenue aux 24 heures du Mans, prend le relais de Conor Daly pour le remplacement de James Hinchcliffe dans la Schmidt Peterson Motorsports,

– Sage Karam récupère le volant de la Ganassi n°8, au dépend de Sebastian Saavedra. L’Américain se classe meilleur rookie à Fontana avec une 10ème place sur la grille de départ,

– Pippa Mann reprend le volant de la Dale Coyne Racing pour la 3ème fois de la saison. C’est la deuxième fois en 4 ans qu’elle effectue plus de 2 courses dans l’année, toujours sur ovale,

– Ed Carpenter, le co-propriétaire du CFH Racing, reprend sa place dans la n°20 en alternance avec l’italien Luca Fillipi. Même avec un programme partiel (seulement les courses sur ovales), l’Américain reste rapide et décroche une très belle 4ème place sur la grille.

The Andretti performance

Marco Andretti manages to elevate his Dallara-Honda to 3rd place, just behind the two Penskes of Pagenaud and Castroneves. He is isolated amid the Chevrolets as the 2nd Honda is 9th with Takuma Sato. The young American continues to surprise with performances far better than what he has shown in past years. He outperforms his teammate Ryan Hunter Reay, the 2012 IndyCar champion, who has been struggling since the introduction of the new aerodynamic kits. Sébastien Bourdais is only 15th, Tristan Vautier 20th just ahead of Stefano Coletti, but the race will be long with 500 miles, which is 250 laps.

The Game of Colors

This weekend, Montoya and Castroneves are both in white and blue. Karam is the only one in white and red while Pagenaud returns to his early-season colors in white and yellow. Dixon drops Jurassic World but remains in black with an additional small orange stripe. Bourdais keeps his dominant green by adopting the “Mistic” white.

Canal+ Sport is broadcasting the race this Saturday at 10:25 PM.