Sébastien Bourdais has showcased his wet-weather prowess at Mid-Ohio by claiming his second IndyCar Series pole position in as many weekends.
After claiming his first post-CART/F1 pole position and win last weekend on the streets of Toronto, the Frenchman picked his way through two rain-affected qualifying segments en route to the ‘Fast Six’ shootout for pole. He then triumphed in that as well, delivering a 1:24.161 time on his final tour of the slowly drying track.
Bourdais overcame a serious threat from IndyCar youngster Josef Newgarden, who put his Sarah Fisher Hartman entry on provisional pole position in the final two minutes. While he also managed to post his quickest lap on his final tour, it wasn’t enough to usurp the four-time Champ Car title-winner.
Tony Kanaan will carry the hopes of the Chip Ganassi team – which has won all but one of the IndyCar races held here since the series was re-formed – with the third-fastest qualifying time. The Brazilian’s teammates Ryan Briscoe, defending race-winner Charlie Kimball and defending series champion Scott Dixon will all start from the final two rows of the grid.
Briscoe and Dixon were docked their two fastest lap times for spinning in the wet conditions and triggering a red flag – a fate that also befell Takuma Sato and Juan Pablo Montoya.
Carlos Muñoz qualified fourth-fastest ahead of Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay, while Penske’s Will Power was best-placed championship contender in sixth. Power’s main championship rival, his teammate Hélio Castroneves, failed to make out of the ‘Group’ qualifying phases and starts a lowly fifteenth.
2014 IndyCar Series Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio – Qualifying:
‘Fast Six’ Session | Team / Entry | Time | |||
1. | Sébastien Bourdais | ![]() |
KV Racing Technology Honda | ![]() |
1:24.1610 |
2. | Josef Newgarden | ![]() |
Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda | ![]() |
+ 0.5177 |
3. | Tony Kanaan | ![]() |
Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet | ![]() |
+ 0.8680 |
4. | Carlos Muñoz | ![]() |
Andretti Autosport Honda | ![]() |
+ 1.1501 |
5. | Ryan Hunter-Reay | ![]() |
Andretti Autosport Honda | ![]() |
+ 1.2849 |
6. | Will Power | ![]() |
Team Penske Chevrolet | ![]() |
+ 2.0082 |
‘Round 2’ Session | Team / Entry | Time | |||
7. | Graham Rahal | ![]() |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda | ![]() |
1:33.3244 |
8. | Justin Wilson | ![]() |
Dale Coyne Racing Honda | ![]() |
1:33.3948 |
9. | Simon Pagenaud | ![]() |
Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports Honda | ![]() |
1:33.5587 |
10. | Carlos Huertas | ![]() |
Dale Coyne Racing Honda | ![]() |
1:33.6635 |
11. | Juan Pablo Montoya* | ![]() |
Team Penske Chevrolet | ![]() |
1:34.7103 |
12. | Mike Conway | ![]() |
Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet | ![]() |
1:34.8194 |
Group Sessions | Team / Entry | Time | |||
13. | Mikhail Aleshin | ![]() |
Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports Honda | ![]() |
1:39.4755 |
14. | Sebastián Saavedra | ![]() |
KV Racing Technology / AFS Racing Honda | ![]() |
1:39.0743 |
15. | Hélio Castroneves | ![]() |
Team Penske Chevrolet | ![]() |
1:39.8694 |
16. | Marco Andretti | ![]() |
Andretti Autosport Honda | ![]() |
1:39.8368 |
17. | James Hinchcliffe | ![]() |
Andretti Autosport Honda | ![]() |
1:41.5197 |
18. | Jack Hawksworth | ![]() |
Bryan Herta Autosport Honda | ![]() |
1:40.0797 |
19. | Ryan Briscoe* | ![]() |
Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet | ![]() |
no time |
20. | Charlie Kimball | ![]() |
Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet | ![]() |
1:40.8624 |
21. | Takuma Sato* | ![]() |
A.J. Foyt Enterprises Honda | ![]() |
no time |
22. | Scott Dixon* | ![]() |
Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet | ![]() |
no time |
* Denotes drivers who were docked their fastest two lap times for causing red flags.
Image via Motorsport.com
Richard Bailey
Latest posts by Richard Bailey (see all)
- 2020 F1 Season Review (Blu Ray) - 27 February, 2021
- WTCR: Guerrieri outwits Muller at the Nordschleife - 26 September, 2020
- WTCR: Girolami breaks Nordschleife lap record to claim pole - 25 September, 2020
- WTCR: Hyundai withdraws from Germany round - 24 September, 2020
- WTCR: Ehrlacher leads Lynk & Co podium sweep at Zolder - 13 September, 2020