Pagenaud turned a lap of 1 minute - that's 127.832 mph in Firestone Fast Six qualifying to take the Verizon P1 Award, which is his second pole of the season.
"It's fantastic," said Pagenaud, who also won the inaugural Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis in 2014. "It's not that simple, it's a lot of work in the background. I just want to take my hat off to my engineer Ben Bretzman for giving me a monster car every time. Firestone also - as soon as I put those Firestone red tires on the car, she became magical, as we imagined. It's a lot of fun for me right now, the whole team is functioning so well."
The series points leader is on a two-race win streak, including a win from the pole three weeks ago at Barber Motorsports Park in his No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet.Among the Firestone Fast Six are Charlie Kimball, who turned the second fastest lap at 127.286 mph in his No. 83 Tresiba Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing Teams. Graham Rahal starts third after a lap of 126.918 mph in the No. 15 Steak 'n Shake Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan with Theodore Racing. And, rounding out the top six were James Hinchcliffe, Josef Newgarden and Jack Hawksworth.
Will Power, who won last year's Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis starts in 12th after failing to advance to the Firestone Fast Six, though he did set the track record with a lap of 1:08.6746 in the first segment of qualifying before failing to advance out of the second segment. "It was just a mistake, I touched the wall going into Turn 12," Power said of his last qualifying lap in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. "I was on time, good enough to get there. I just locked up, went in the grass, got out of the way and was all over the marbles. We'll do our best tomorrow."
Rain or shine, you can expect a thrilling race at the Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis that goes green at 3:50 p.m. on Saturday!
Getting To The Race:Ticket information is available for all racing events at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for – the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and other races by visiting www.ims.com/tickets. Tickets are available 24 hours per day, seven days per mweek.You can also call 800-822-INDY or 317-492-6700 between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday through Friday. Or, visit the IMS Ticket Office at the IMS Administration Building at the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday through Friday.