NEWTON, Iowa (AP) — IndyCar points leader Helio Castroneves won the final qualifying heat race on Saturday to claim the pole for Sunday’s race at Iowa Speedway.
It’s the first pole of the season for Castroneves, who led all 50 laps.
Castroneves earned nine championship points by winning the top heat and extended his lead over defending champion Ryan Hunter-Reay to 25 points.
Will Power, Castroneves’s teammate at Team Penske, was second, followed by James Hincliffe, Marco Andretti and Scott Dixon.
This was the second straight year that the IndyCar series seeded the field at Iowa with heat races. The runs were extended from 30 to 50 laps this year, and the heats were set by a single-lap qualifying run rather than practice times.
