Aussie Power Passes Foyt For Second On IndyCar Pole List

Los Angeles, Sept 2 (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 2nd Sep, 2018 ) :Australian driver Will Power passed IndyCar legend A.J. Foyt for second on the all-time series poles list Saturday by setting the qualifying pace for Sunday's Portland Grand Prix.

The 37-year-old Queenslander won his 54th career IndyCar pole position and fourth of the 2018 season by turning a top pole qualifying lap over the 1.964-mile Oregon road course in 57.3467 seconds.

That boosted Power, this year's Indianapolis 500 champion, out of a deadlock with four-time Indy 500 winner Foyt on the all-time pole list, pushing the Aussie 13 shy of Mario Andretti's all-time record of 67 IndyCar pole starts.

"To be up with Names like Foyt, pretty special and humbling," Power said. "I need to catch Mario now. I don't think that will happen.

That's a lot of poles. But, yeah, unbelievable. I would never have dreamed of being up there with names like A.J. Foyt." Andretti compiled his pole positions from 1965 to 1993, with 40 poles on ovals and 27 on road and street courses. Foyt won all of his poles on ovals from 1961 to 1981. Andretti won 24 times from the pole, Foyt 23.

Power won his first pole in 2006, one of six he took in the ChampCar series before the merger with the Indy Racing League in 2008.

Power has won 16 races from the pole and taken poles on 25 different IndyCar circuits.

Gaining a point on series points leader Scott Dixon of New Zealand with the pole win, Power pulled within 67 points on the eve of the penultimate race of the season. Dixon will start 11th. The campaign ends in two weeks at Sonoma, California.