Sato, Honda Claim Pocono Pole Qualifying Report

• Seventh career pole for Sato, second pole of 2017
• Honda drivers take seven of top 10 starting positions
• Second 500-mile race of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series

Indianapolis 500 champion Takuma Sato completed a dramatic day of Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying Saturday at Pocono Raceway, claiming the pole for Honda in the final run of the afternoon, and just minutes after teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay crashed heavily in Turn 3.

After drawing the final spot in the qualifying order, Sato was waiting in pit lane as his Andretti Autosport teammate, Ryan Hunter-Reay, spun entering the final corner, making heavy contact with both the outside and inside SAFER barriers. He exited the car under his own power, but was later transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. As the next – and last – driver to qualify, Sato completed a flawless run of 219.639 mph over two laps of the Pocono tri-oval to claim his second pole of 2017, and the seventh of his career. 

Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Charlie Kimball and Tony Kanaan claimed the second row of the starting grid in their qualifying runs, and will start third and fourth, respectively. Alexander Rossi will start sixth in his Andretti Autosport Honda, with Graham Rahal seventh. Scott Dixon and Max Chilton rounded out the top 10 for Honda. Television coverage of Sunday’s 200-lap race, the second 500-mile oval race of 2017, starts at 2 p.m. EDT on the NBC Sports Network.

Takuma Sato (Andretti Autosport Honda) Indianapolis 500 winner, pole qualifier today in Pocono: "I’ve always enjoy this track in the past years, but I've never had a win. But I always enjoy it. That's why the pole here is something very special, especially after Indy 500, coming to another 500 race, the entire crew from the #26 car did an outstanding job. Have to say big thank you to Michael and all Andretti Autosport. I am very happy."

ABC Supply Co., Inc. Pocono 500 Circuit: Pocono Raceway (2.5-mile oval) Long Pond, PA 2016 Winner: Will Power (Team Penske Honda) 180.198 mph average Weather: Sunny, mild, breezy, 78 degrees F

Top-10 Qualifying Results:

Ps.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Speed mph	Notes
1.	Takuma Sato	Andretti Autosport	Honda	219.639
2.	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevrolet	219.395
3.	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	219.369
4.	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	219.012
5.	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	218.688
6.	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda	218.622
7.	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	Honda	218.099
8.	Gabby Chaves	Harding Racing	Chevrolet	218.020
9.	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	217.819
10.	Max Chilton	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	217.748

Other Honda Results

11.	Ed Jones-R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	217.565
12.	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	217.556
13.	Esteban Gutierriez-R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	217.292
15.	Sebastian Saavedra	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	216.943
16.	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Honda	216.801
21.	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	No speed	Crashed in qualifying

 

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