AP – Will Power, left, of Australia shakes hands with Ryan Hunter-Reay after qualifying for the Grand Prix … LONG BEACH, Calif. – The Power of Will is overtaking IndyCar through the early part of the season.
Points leader Will Power earned the pole at the Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday, edging defending champion Ryan Hunter-Reay to go 3-for-3 on poles this season.
"He's the man right now," Hunter-Reay said.
He sure is.
The Australian road-and-street specialist opened the season with the pole and a second-place finish at St. Petersburg, and followed that up with a wire-to-wire win at Alabama last week. That gave him 94 points for the season, seven ahead of Dario Franchitti, the man who overtook Power for the series championship on the final race of the 2010 season.
Power has been fast all weekend at Long Beach, among the leaders in practice and second after the initial round of qualifying. Hunter-Reay had the lead over in the Fast Six final segment before Power hit the gas late with a lap of 1 minute, 9:06 seconds around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile circuit through the streets of downtown.
It was Power's third straight pole at Long Beach, though he hasn't won on the seaside circuit since the final Champ Car race at the layout in 2008.
"I would mean a lot (to win)," said Power, who hit 102.582 mph in qualifying. "It's one of my favorite tracks. I love it around here. I've been trying to win it the last couple years, I've been knocking on the door. In racing, as you know, everything has to be perfect and that's what we've got to do tomorrow."
Hunter-Reay might have Power right where he wants him.
Driving as a part-timer last season, RHR qualified second and won, a big victory not just because it helped him land a full-time gig with Andretti Autosport this season, but also because he grew up in Southern California. He qualified 0.8 seconds behind Power and will start on the front row next to him.
"Best thing is it's a repeat of last year," said Hunter-Reay, who proposed to his wife, Beccy, at a local restaurant last year. "We're starting second and we won from there last year, so hopefully we can repeat."
Mike Conway, who missed most of last season after a horrific crash at the Indianapolis 500, qualified third and Oriol Servia was fourth.
The 85-lap race Sunday figures to be filled with excitement.
The tight course is tough to pass on and there are usually plenty of collisions and cars into the wall. IndyCar's new double-file restarts on road courses figure to add to the excitement, particularly with a barely-get-through first corner and nowhere to run off.
"It's trying to predict how many cars you can get lined up at a certain point and what's acceptable and what's not," said Justin Wilson, who qualified fifth and will start next to Helio Castroneves. "No one wants the team owners to spend $2 million at Turn 1, so it's a fine line."
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