“Code brown” lap earns Castroneves pole at Phoenix
Like several drivers, Team Penske-Chevrolet driver Helio Castroneves had a ‘moment’ on his qualifying run, but kept his foot in to land pole position in IndyCar’s return to Phoenix International Raceway.
Photo by: IndyCar Series
With a first lap of 192.631mph and a second of 192.018mph, the three-time Indy 500 winner set an average of 192.324mph. The time drop-off in his second lap, reflected his bobble at Turn 4 which he laughingly described as a “code brown moment”.
He said: “It happens so quick you don’t react. You’re just a passenger.
“I’m going to the paddock to change something… but not the car. The car was perfect.”
Alongside him on the front row will be his long-time friend and rival, fellow Brazilian veteran Tony Kanaan, who clocked a 191.544mph average in the #10 Ganassi-Chevrolet.
Their respective teammates Juan Montoya and Charlie Kimball will line up third and fourth.
Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy duo Ed Carpenter and Josef Newgarden couldn’t quite match their practice performance from this morning and will start fifth and seventh, split by Ganassi’s reigning champion Scott Dixon. The fourth Ganassi entry, Max Chilton, will start top rookie in eighth
Will Power and Simon Pagenaud put their Penske entries ninth and 10th, to complete a day of domination for Chevrolet.
As in this morning’s practice, it was Andretti Autosport who led the Honda hordes, with Marco Andretti leading the way in 11th ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay. Their rookie teammate Alexander Rossi will start 14th for his first oval race, alongside Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda driver Mikhail Aleshin.
Carlos Munoz had a heavy shunt in Turn 1, the third of the day, and his Andretti Autosport entry will start the race from the back of the grid along with James Hinchcliffe (SPM) and Takuma Sato (AJ Foyt Racing), who were unable to participate in qualifying due to the damage their cars sustained in morning practice.
Graham Rahal arguably had the greatest escape of the session, when his car let go at the rear in Turn 1, and he skipped high up the track but kept it off the wall. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda driver will line up 19th.
| P. | N° | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 |  Helio Castroneves |
 Penske (C) |
38.2604 |
| 2 | 11 | Tony Kanaan |
 Ganassi (C) |
38.4228 |
| 3 | 2 |  Juan Pablo Montoya |
 Penske (C) |
38.4520 |
| 4 | 83 |  Charlie Kimball |
 Ganassi (C) |
38.4813 |
| 5 | 20 | Ed Carpenter |
 Carpenter (C) |
38.5700 |
| 6 | 9 |  Scott Dixon |
 Ganassi (C) |
38.6519 |
| 7 | 21 | Josef Newgarden |
 Carpenter (C) |
38.7093 |
| 8 | 8 |  Max Chilton |
 Ganassi (C) |
38.7341 |
| 9 | 12 |  Will Power |
 Penske (C) |
38.7797 |
| 10 | 22 |  Simon Pagenaud |
 Penske (C) |
38.7990 |
| 11 | 27 | Marco Andretti |
 Andretti (H) |
38.9188 |
| 12 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay |
 Andretti (H) |
38.9403 |
| 13 | 7 |  Mikhail Aleshin |
 Schmidt (H) |
39.1409 |
| 14 | 98 | Alexander Rossi |
 Andretti-Herta (H) |
39.3625 |
| 15 | 11 | Sébastien Bourdais |
 KVSH (C) |
39.4460 |
| 16 | 19 |  Luca Filippi |
 Coyne (H) |
39.6009 |
| 17 | 41 | Jack Hawksworth |
 Foyt (H) |
39.7653 |
| 18 | 18 | Conor Daly |
 Coyne (H) |
39.9347 |
| 19 | 15 | Graham Rahal |
 Rahal (H) |
40.9323 |
| 20 | 26 | Carlos Muñoz |
 Andretti (H) |
No time |
| 21 | 5 |  James Hinchcliffe |
 Schmidt (H) |
No time |
| 22 | 14 |  Takuma Sato |
 Foyt (H) |
No time |
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