It’s the ’ first time at in Austin, meaning basically everything is a record—lap times, session results and the like. And, with Saturday’s qualifying wrapped up, the first ever pole sitter for an IndyCar race at Circuit of The Americas is Will Power.
Power, who made it into the final round of qualifying drivers on an overcast day at the 3.4-mile Texas road course we’re all used to , will start Sunday’s IndyCar Classic ahead of fellow Fast Six qualifiers Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist and Scott Dixon.
The rest of the starting lineup is .
This makes Power’s in the series’ second race of the year, giving him a perfect qualifying record so far in 2019. It’s also his career pole and moves him closer to the Indy car record of 67, .
Several drivers swapped out the pole spot during the round of six on Saturday afternoon, with Power at the end of the session and with the top five all separated by . But everyone in the top six got a benefit that the rest of the field didn’t, pole position or not: an extra eight minutes of green-flag time on track in the final round, up from the series’ .
That’s a huge benefit, considering that , IndyCar is brand new to Circuit of The Americas and given that the series in the 19th turn. (, so far.) COTA, which has Lewis Hamilton’s since it joined the F1 schedule , brought on IndyCar for 2019 despite around regionally sharing the various racing series it has contracts with.
But IndyCar is in Austin now, no matter, and Power will see COTA’s from the best view the track has—in front of the field. Whether he’ll stay there and add to his list of firsts this weekend, we’ll all just have to see.