Helio Castroneves put himself in the perfect position to chip away at the 63-point deficit between him and Scott Dixon in the IndyCar Series standings by claiming pole position for the championship's second road course outing of the season at Mid-Ohio.
The series' all-time leader in poles added number 25 to his tally during PEAK Motor Oil qualifying for the Honda Indy 200, advancing through the first two elimination rounds to make the Firestone Fast Six for the 13th time in 14 road or street races.
In that session, the Brazilian lapped the 2.258-mile circuit in 1min 07.2480secs to claim his second consecutive pole of the season - and his second in as many events at Mid-Ohio. The pole went some way to making up for the disappointment of missing out on a fourth straight pole at Watkins Glen two weeks ago, and followed top spot in qualifying on the Nashville oval seven days ago, as Castroneves replicated former team-mate Gil de Ferran's qualifying success in the supporting ALMS event.
“It feels great," the Penske team leader admitted, "The only one I was really worried about was Gil - if I didn't win the pole I knew he would give me a hard time.
"In all seriousness, it was a great battle between Ryan and me. This morning, we were talking about what a great chance we had to start on the front row with both cars, and we did it. It was a tough battle, but Team Penske did a great job, and I'm extremely happy to part of this organisation.”
Team-mate Ryan Briscoe qualified second to complete a red-and-white from row, comfortably holding off third placed Marco Andretti, who had headed the opening day's practice sessions on Friday. The Australian will make his third front row start of the year, having claimed pole at Watkins Glen and rolled off third spot at Indianapolis. It is the 36th time that team-mates will start 1-2, and the third time this season after Target Chip Ganassi Racing colleagues Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon qualified 1-2 at Kansas and Indianapolis.
