Will Power wins it

Will Power won the pole for IndyCar's season-opening race at St Petersburg, proving he still is the best driver at navigating the temporary street circuit.It is the seventh pole in eight years at St Pete for Power, who also won the pole for this race last year. But he became ill after his qualifying lap and IndyCar ultimately benched him for the race because of concussion-like symptoms.It turned out Power had an ear infection, and not racing in the opener likely cost him a chance to win the championship. Power finished second in the IndyCar standings last year to Team Penske team mate Simon Pagenaud.Scott Dixon qualified second Saturday in the new Honda that Chip Ganassi Racing is fielding this year, followed by James Hinchcliffe. New Penske driver Josef Newgarden qualified fourth while Takuma Sato and Tony Kanaan round out the final six for Sunday.The third turn of the circuit was reconfigured Thursday evening, the day before Indy cars hit the 1.8-mile, 14-turn temporary street circuit. What once was a fast, sweeping right-hand turn now has curbing that changed the apex and made the corner a traditional braking area. Also, 180 feet of wall on the drivers' left side was moved back almost 40 feet.“I would say turn three is going to be the biggest difference on passing,” Graham Rahal said. “Turn three is obviously so much tighter now with a brake zone there and stuff. It will be interesting to see.”The track has retained its character, although it was repaved last month, with new asphalt on about 70 percent of the circuit.“It's definitely different,” Kanaan said. “I was expecting there to be a little more grip and for it to be smoother. In other words, I was expecting us to lose a little of the beauty of this track.”Juan Pablo Montoya won this race the last two years, but isn't part of the field because he took a deal with Team Penske to run only the Indianapolis 500.But team owner Roger Penske has added another race to Montoya's schedule and will enter him in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis two weeks before the Indy 500. Montoya will be driving a fifth Penske car.Also, Penske said Montoya is in the mix for a role with a sports car team if the owner can get a programme put together for next year.“We'd like to put all the pieces together and hopefully will have something by mid-summer if we're going to go for next year,” Penske said. “I don't want to wait another year, to be honest with you. We've waited a year now.“If we run a sports car programme (Montoya's) on the top of the list of those to drive for us. That was part of the discussion. When we talked about wanting to run him this, when we talked about doing this, he'd be at the top of the list.”Penske wouldn't say how many sports cars he'd run - “it won't be three,” he said - and that Helio Castroneves is also in the mix for a sports car seat.It was a rough opening qualifying session for Sebastien Bourdais, who spun off the track during his run. His car was towed back and his qualifying session came to an abrupt end.It was a disappointing start to the year for Bourdais, who joined Dale Coyne Racing this season and brought two top engineers with him. Bourdais also lives in St Pete, so the event is considered his home race.Bourdais will start last in the 21-car field. NAMPA/AP

Will Power wins it

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-17

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Will Power wins it

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-17

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