Kiwi driver Scott Dixon will start 17th while Sebastien Bourdais continued his sizzling start to the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, setting the fastest speed in Verizon P1 Award qualifying today to earn the pole position for the Desert Diamond West Valley Casino Phoenix Grand Prix.
“I’m really not sure what happened,” commented Dixon. “We struggled a bit too in the session earlier today with overall grip. We just had a lot of understeer in Turn 4 and the car just wanted to break loose and take off. We just missed the balance with the PNC Bank car, and if you do that on a short track like this you really pay the price in the lap times.”
Following a victory in the season opener at St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 11, Bourdais averaged 188.539 mph for his two qualifying laps around ISM Raceway’s 1.022-mile oval in the No. 18 Team SealMaster Honda for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan. Bourdais earned the 34th pole position of his 13-year Indy car career, breaking a tie for seventh place on the all-time list with Dario Franchitti.
“We just have got a great group of guys working really hard, trying to make it happen,” Bourdais said. “When you do, it’s really sweet.
“I really knew what I had (and) that’s the best possible way to go qualifying. I knew I could hang it out because I knew what I was running.”
Qualifying results
1. (18) Sebastien Bourdais, Honda, 188.539
2. (22) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 188.148
3. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 186.852
4. (27) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 186.824
5. (5) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 185.741
6. (6) Robert Wickens, Honda, 185.362
7. (1) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 185.279
8. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 184.706
9. (14) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 184.595
10. (19) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 184.548
11. (10) Ed Jones, Honda, 184.313
12. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 183.920
13. (30) Takuma Sato, Honda, 182.960
14. (32) Kyle Kaiser, Chevrolet, 182.859
15. (21) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 182.015
16. (4) Matheus Leist, Chevrolet, 181.817
17. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 181.804
18. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevrolet, 181.244
19. (88) Gabby Chaves, Chevrolet, 180.932
20. (98) Marco Andretti, Honda, 180.199
21. (59) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 178.462
22. (23) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 177.499
23. (26) Zach Veach, Honda, 175.733
Comments