NEWTON, Iowa – Simon Pagenaud earned his second consecutive pole on the NTT IndyCar Series season Friday while leading Team Penske to a sweep of the top three qualifying positions for the Iowa 300 at Iowa Speedway.
Pagenaud (No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet), who won the pole at Toronto last week, captured his third NTT P1 Award of the season and 13th of his career with a two-lap average of 180.073 miles per hour (35.7455 seconds) on the 0.894-mile oval. It was the fifth year in row that Team Penske earned pole at Iowa.
RESULTS: Iowa 300 Qualifying
He was followed by Team Penske teammates Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet) at 179.589 mph (35.8418 secs.) and Josef Newgarden (No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet) at 179.449 mph (35.8699), respectively, in qualifying.
Rounding out the top five were Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Takuma Sato (No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Honda) at 177.646 mph (36.2338) and Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports driver James Hinchcliffe (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda) at 176.200 mpg (36.5312) in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Friday’s action will continue with a final one-hour practice beginning at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT local (NBC Gold).
The NTT IndyCar Series returns to Iowa Speedway on Saturday night for the running of the Iowa 300 (300 laps/268.2 miles). The race will be broadcast live beginning at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT local on the NBC Sports Network as well as the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network and SiriusXM Radio, Channel 209.
Full story to follow.