Kiwi Scott Dixon edged Australian Will Power Saturday for pole position in IndyCar’s Baltimore Grand Prix.
A week after Dixon’s pit-lane penalty helped Power claim the Sonoma Grand Prix, Dixon reasserted himself in Saturday’s qualifying.
Power held the provisional pole until Dixon topped him on his final lap of the 2.04-mile (3.3km), 12-turn Baltimore street circuit in 1 minute, 18.0838 seconds during the final Fast Six session.
He beat Power’s time by just 0.0333 seconds to claim his 20th career IndyCar pole and his second of the season.
It comes after a 15th-place finish at Sonoma, where he was penalized for a pit-lane safety violation after he accidentally bumped one of Powers’ crew members in the pits late in the race.
He had led the most laps with 27 and was in front of the field when IndyCar race officials handed him the penalty.
“Good to bounce back after last week,” Dixon said. “I feel so happy for Team Target. They did a hell of a good job. We had a sensor failure in Q2, which almost knocked us out. Big thanks to Honda for figuring it out and fixing that in Q3.”
In the wake of Dixon’s incident at Sonoma, IndyCar officials this week announced new rules for drivers and crew members in the area, adding point-of-reference “courtesy zones” to the outside edges of each pit box. Dixon had complained that the Power crew member that he hit had, in fact, purposely walked into him.
Dixon picked up a bonus point for his pole victory. He enters Sunday’s 75-lap race 38 points behind series leader Helio Castroneves of Brazil, who qualified seventh.
France’s Simon Pagenaud qualified a season-high third. England’s Justin Wilson took the fourth spot, followed by American Josef Newgarden and French rookie Tristan Vautier.
Dixon pips Power for Baltimore IndyCar pole
