Dixon Claims IndyCar Pole For Grand Prix Of Baltimore

Scott Dixon powers his way through the chicane during qualifying at Baltimore.  Photo by John Cote

Scott Dixon powers his way through the chicane during qualifying at Baltimore. Photo by John Cote

The six competitors in the Firestone Fast Six for the Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT had a combined 50 IZOD IndyCar Series pole starts — all by Scott Dixon (19) and Will Power (31) — which made them targets for four others seeking their maiden Verizon P1 Award.

Through the 10-minute session, though, it was Dixon who earned the award by blitzing the 2.04-mile, 12-turn street circuit in 1 minute, 18.0838 seconds on his final lap. Dixon broke a tie with Danny Sullivan and is tied with Gordon Johncock for 14th on the all-time pole-winning list.

“I feel so happy for Team Target, they did a hell of a good job,” said Dixon. “We had a sensor failure in Q2, which almost knocked us out. Big thanks to Honda for figuring it out and fixing that in Q3. The car’s been quick all week. I actually made a few mistakes on that lap and we were still able to pull it out. It’s a good place to start here at Baltimore, and hopefully the weather stays good and clean tomorrow. It’s going to be a tight race.”

Dixon picked up one bonus point for his second pole of the season and enters the 75-lap race 38 points behind championship front-runner Helio Castroneves, who qualified seventh in the No. 3 PPG Team Penske car.

Dixon recorded the fastest lap of the weekend in Group 1 of Round 1 of qualifications (1:17.9275), which bettered the 2012 pole time laid down by Will Power. Power was .0333 of a second behind Dixon in the Firestone Fast Six and will make his sixth front-row start of the season in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car.

Simon Pagenaud, who is coming off consecutive top-five finishes, will start a season-high third in the No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports car. Justin Wilson (fourth) and Josef Newgarden (fifth) also had season-best qualifying efforts. Tristan Vautier, who won the Firestone Indy Lights race at Baltimore in 2012, qualified sixth as drivers from five teams made up the Firestone Fast Six.

Izod IndyCar Series
Baltimore Street Circuit – Baltimore, MD
Grand Prix Of Baltimore Qualifying – Aug. 31, 2013

1. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 01:18.0838 (94.053)
2. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 01:18.1171 (94.013)
3. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 01:18.4307 (93.637)
4. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 01:18.8698 (93.115)
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6. (55) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 01:19.0380 (92.917)
7. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 01:19.0288 (92.928)
8. (1) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 01:19.0367 (92.919)
9. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 01:19.0523 (92.901)
10. (14) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 01:19.2216 (92.702)
11. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 01:19.3182 (92.589)
12. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 01:22.2045 (89.338)
13. (16) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 01:18.6398 (93.388)
14. (98) Luca Filippi, Dallara-Honda, 01:19.1242 (92.816)
15. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 01:18.6694 (93.353)
16. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 01:19.3051 (92.604)
17. (4) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Chevy, 01:18.8075 (93.189)
18. (25) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 01:19.4738 (92.408)
19. (78) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 01:18.9829 (92.982)
20. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 01:20.5694 (91.151)
21. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 01:19.2440 (92.676)
22. (5) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 02:16.3120 (53.876)
23. (18) Stefan Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 01:20.1871 (91.586)
24. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, No Time (No Speed)

 

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