Power sweeps both pole positions for IndyCar’s Iowa double-header

In one morning, Will Power collected two pole positions in Iowa. Power will start up front for today’s 250 mile IndyCar race at the Iowa Speedway and then he’ll start on pole again in tomorrow’s 300 mile race.

The qualifying format for IndyCar’s return to Iowa Speedway after a one-year hiatus was simple: Each driver’s first lap would set the grid order for the 250 mile race, and the second lap would determine the grid for the 300 mile race.

Power was the only driver to surpass an average lap speed of 178 mph during qualifying, with a first lap average of 178.199 mph (286.783 km/h), and a second lap of 178.013 mph (286.404 km/h).

Team Penske locked out the front row for both Iowa races as Josef Newgarden put together a consistent two-lap run and was second-fastest across both laps.

Conor Daly held provisional pole for race one until Newgarden and Power surpassed him, but the Ed Carpenter Racing driver will take third on the grid for the 250 mile race, and fourth in Sunday’s 300 mile event.

Daly will share tomorrow’s second row with Colton Herta, who had a tough time getting up to speed on his first lap and only qualified 17th for today’s race. However, Herta enjoyed a much better run on his second lap, good enough for third on the grid on Sunday.

The rest of the top ten for race one today includes Pato O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin, rookie David Malukas, Jack Harvey, Rinus VeeKay, Takuma Sato, and Romain Grosjean in that order.

For race two, positions five to ten are occupied by Sato, McLaughlin, Harvey, O’Ward, VeeKay, and Felix Rosenqvist in tenth.

The four car fleet of Chip Ganassi Racing did not perform as expected during qualifying. IndyCar championship leader Marcus Ericsson was their highest qualifier for race one, in 12th. Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou qualified 12th for race two.

The green flag for the Iowa 250 is scheduled for tonight at 21:00 BST / 16:00 EDT.

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Iowa 250 qualifying results

Position	Car	Driver	Team	Engine
1	12	Will Power	Penske	Chevrolet
2	2	Josef Newgarden	Penske	Chevrolet
3	20	Conor Daly	Carpenter	Chevrolet
4	5	Pato O’Ward	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
5	3	Scott McLaughlin	Penske	Chevrolet
6	18	David Malukas	Coyne/HMD	Honda
7	45	Jack Harvey	RLL	Honda
8	21	Rinus VeeKay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
9	51	Takuma Sato	Coyne/RWR	Honda
10	28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti	Honda
11	7	Felix Rosenqvist	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
12	8	Marcus Ericsson	Ganassi	Honda
13	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi	Honda
14	10	Alex Palou	Ganassi	Honda
15	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ganassi	Honda
16	15	Graham Rahal	RLL	Honda
17	26	Colton Herta	Andretti	Honda
18	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner	Honda
19	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti	Honda
20	30	Christian Lundgaard	RLL	Honda
21	60	Simon Pagenaud	Meyer Shank	Honda
22	77	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
23	33	Ed Carpenter	Carpenter	Chevrolet
24	14	Kyle Kirkwood	Foyt	Chevrolet
25	6	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank	Honda
26	4	Dalton Kellett	Foyt	Chevrolet

Iowa 300 qualifying results

Position	Car	Driver	Team	Engine
1	12	Will Power	Penske	Chevrolet
2	2	Josef Newgarden	Penske	Chevrolet
3	26	Colton Herta	Andretti	Honda
4	20	Conor Daly	Carpenter	Chevrolet
5	51	Takuma Sato	Coyne/RWR	Honda
6	3	Scott McLaughlin	Penske	Chevrolet
7	45	Jack Harvey	RLL	Honda
8	5	Pato O’Ward	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
9	21	Rinus VeeKay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
10	7	Felix Rosenqvist	McLaren SP	Chevrolet
11	28	Romain Grosjean	Andretti	Honda
12	10	Alex Palou	Ganassi	Honda
13	48	Jimmie Johnson	Ganassi	Honda
14	18	David Malukas	Coyne/HMD	Honda
15	8	Marcus Ericsson	Ganassi	Honda
16	60	Simon Pagenaud	Meyer Shank	Honda
17	30	Christian Lundgaard	RLL	Honda
18	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi	Honda
19	33	Ed Carpenter	Carpenter	Chevrolet
20	14	Kyle Kirkwood	Foyt	Chevrolet
21	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti	Honda
22	77	Callum Ilott	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
23	15	Graham Rahal	RLL	Honda
24	6	Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank	Honda
25	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Steinbrenner	Honda
26	4	Dalton Kellett	Foyt	Chevrolet

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