Mikhail Aleshin takes first career IndyCar pole at Pocono Raceway
Russian racing driver Mikhail Aleshin secured his first Verizon IndyCar Series pole on Saturday.
The 29-year-old ran a combined two-lap time at an average speed of 220.455 mph Saturday afternoon at the Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pa. No one else was able to beat Aleshin's time, and so he will lead the field to green for Sunday's ABC Supply 500.
Many eyes were on the Russian after he led a Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 1-2 in Saturday morning's practice session, with James Hinchcliffe in second. Come qualifying, Hinchcliffe could only manage sixth behind Josef Newgarden, Takuma Sato, Helio Castroneves and Carlos Munoz.
However, a lot of the drivers were not too concerned with their qualifying pace, as Sunday's race will be a long one, with 200 laps making up 500 miles around the 2.5-mile tri-oval.
This is good news for drivers such as Juan Pablo Montoya and Scott Dixon, who qualified toward the rear.
Dixon, who will start 19th, was the first car on track in qualifying, and was complaining of a loose condition after his run.
Meanwhile, Juan Pablo Montoya qualified 15th in a car rebuilt out of different pieces from Team Penske's garage after a crash at the end of Saturday morning's practice session. Charlie Kimball and Ryan Hunter-Reay also crashed in the morning session, and will line up in 16th and 22nd positions respectively, after Hunter-Reay wasn't able to make it back out for qualifying.
Unofficial qualifying results:
1. Mikhail Aleshin
2. Josef Newgarden
3. Takuma Sato
4. Helio Castroneves
5. Carlos Munoz
6. James Hinchcliffe
7. Alexander Rossi
8. Will Power
9. Tony Kanaan
10. Ed Carpenter
11. Graham Rahal
12. Jack Hawksworth
13. Marco Andretti
14. Simon Pagenaud
15. Juan Pablo Montoya
16. Charlie Kimball
17. Max Chilton
18. Sebastien Bourdais
19. Scott Dixon
20. Conor Daly
21. Pippa Mann
22. Ryan Hunter-Reay
