TORONTO — Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud will begin from the pole for the IndyCar race through the streets of Toronto.
Pagenaud has been tearing around Exhibition Place all weekend, as his Team Penske Chevrolet has been consistently rapid. He paced Saturday morning’s final exercise at the eleven-turn, 1.786-mile street path. Then, he took pole in qualifying, edging out reigning series champion Scott Dixon for the pinnacle starting spot in Sunday’s race.
“This is the high quality you may feel in racing while you achieve what you expect,” said Pagenaud, who received the Indy 500 in May from the pole.
Dixon said that after qualifying, he’d been bothered for almost a month by “tennis elbow”—an inflammation of the tendons inside the elbow—from running within the simulator. The pain has been difficult on Toronto’s rough avenue circuit.
“It’s been a piece of a nightmare,” Dixon stated. “I got it the week of Texas, and then I had it all the manner through at Le Mans, and then at Road America, it becomes bad in the race. So we’ve been looking to do a little remedy with it; however, it’s a tennis elbow. There’s no easy fix. It might be an offseason task; we’ll see.” Dixon teammate Felix Rosenqvist certified 1/3 for Chip Ganassi Racing, observed with Indy 500 runner-up Alexander Rossi for Andretti Autosport as Honda drivers took spots through four.
IndyCar factors chief Josef Newgarden qualified 5th, accompanied by using Ed Jones.
Marco Andretti, Sebastian Bourdais, Spencer Pigot, and Takuma Sato certified seventh through tenth.
The day began hot as Sato faced Bourdais following the morning practice consultation. Bourdais remained in his cockpit as Sato approached and seemed to seize the Frenchman. Bourdais climbed out of his vehicle, throwing haymakers, and a team consultant attempted to separate the two drivers. But the scuffle endured for another few seconds, and Bourdais said later that Sato appeared to overreact to an on-track pass.
The IndyCar championship is between Newgarden and Rossi, separated by seven factors heading into Sunday. But Pagenaud isn’t always out of the fight and is ranked 1/3, 61 factors behind teammate Newgarden and 33 points ahead of Dixon in the fourth position.
FORMULA ONE
Bottas denies Hamilton British GP pole role
SILVERSTONE, England — Valtteri Bottas became six milliseconds — zero.006 — quicker than Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton on Saturday to take pole function for the British Grand Prix.
It will be the primary time because, in 2014, Hamilton didn’t start from the front at his domestic Formula One race as he chased a reported sixth victory on Sunday.
Bottas opened the season by triumphing in the first four races but hasn’t even been on the pole because of the Spanish GP in May.
“It becomes perfect once more,” Bottas stated. “It reminds you why you do this. It’s been quite close all weekend and these days with Lewis.” Hamilton has a 31-factor lead over Bottas in the championship standings.
Behind the Mercedes duo on Sunday’s grid might be Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who certified in 0.33, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
