Castroneves wins pole at Toyota Grand Prix
LONG BEACH, Calif. – Helio Castroneves now has the track record for the prestigious Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Meanwhile, Will Power has work to do in Sunday's race.
As Castroneves won the pole Saturday in a time of 1 minute, 6.6294 seconds, breaking a record standing since 2006, Power got stuck in the 23-car muck in the first round of qualifying.
Power didn't have one of the six fastest laps in the second group when rookie Stefano Coletti crashed with about 2 minutes left. Cleanup ended the session, leaving Power on the outside looking in.
Power will start 18th. He blamed himself.
"The car bobbled a little bit, and I backed off," he said of his lap before Coletti hit the wall. "I probably should have kept going."
Castroneves and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya – both turn 40 years old this year -- will start alongside on the front row.
Ryan Hunter-Reay congratulated the Brazilian, saying "didn't you win this in '85, '86?"
Castroneves laughed. "The good news is, I won again," he said.
Castroneves actually won that first pole in 2001.
The second row will be occupied by Scott Dixon and Hunter-Reay, with Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden starting on Row 3.
Chevrolet had five of the fastest six qualifiers, a sign that the removal of the front wing vertical pieces was not that impactful.
Sunday's race is 80 laps. The green flag is about 4:30 p.m. on NBCSN.