Pagenaud adds another pole win to dominant start at Indy GP

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) Simon Pagenaud keeps finding ways to stay ahead of the IndyCar pack.

On Friday, the French driver added another chapter to his early season dominance by claiming the pole for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis with a fast lap of 1 minute, 8.6868 seconds on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course. American Charlie Kimball will start a career-best second after going 1:08.9816.

Pagenaud has two straight pole wins and will try to reach victory lane for the third straight time Saturday.

''It's pretty fun right now, let me tell you,'' the Team Penske driver said after winning his fourth career pole. ''Ben Bretzman, my engineer, gives me a monster car every time I'm out there.''

This time, he may not have much margin for error.

Kimball, who drives for Chip Ganassi Racing, was just a tick off Pagenaud's pace. Another American, Graham Rahal, who drives for his father's team, posted the best lap of any Honda driver at 1:09.1816 but had it voided when his No. 15 car failed a post-qualifying weight inspection.

American Josef Newgarden, who qualified fifth, also violated the same rule, which requires cars to weigh a minimum of 1,610 pounds.

In a release issued about five hours after qualifying ended, series officials announced Rahal and Newgarden had their times voided and will start from the last two spots in the 25-car field.

As a result, those who qualified behind Rahal and Newgarden will all move up the starting grid. That gives Canadian James Hinchcliffe a season-best start from the No. 3 slot. Hinchcliffe drives for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

But Pagenaud, who already holds a 48-point lead over defending series champ Scott Dixon, isn't ready to give up any ground. Instead, Pagenaud is looking to expand his lead by becoming the first two-time winner of Indy's road race.

''You're always trying to push the limits and finding that zone is key,'' he said. ''It's a lot about concentration and having everything go right for you in your head.''

HARD CUT: It was a tough day for some of IndyCar's big-name drivers. Three-time Indianapolis 500 champion Helio Castroneves of Brazil and American Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2014 Indy winner, were eliminated in the first round of qualifying. Alex Tagliani, the 2011 Indy pole-winner; Marco Andretti, the 2006 Indy runner-up; and J.R. Hildebrand, the 2011 Indy runner-up, also were knocked out in the first round. Defending Indy GP winner Will Power and defending 500 champ Juan Pablo Montoya were eliminated in the second round.

BEING FLAGGED: Tagliani served one penalty in Friday's morning practice, then picked up another for again ignoring the checkered flag. That forced the Canadian to sit in the pits for the first five minutes of qualifying and left him with the slowest lap in qualifying. Montoya ran into similar trouble. The Colombian was assessed a five-minute penalty in the second round of qualifying after taking an extra lap when the checkered waved to end the first round.

BROKEN RECORD: The two group leaders of the first round of qualifying, Jack Hawksworth of A.J. Foyt Enterprises and Power from Team Penske, set track records. When they did, track officials delivered a throwback moment when they played a tape of the late Tom Carnegie announcing ''a new track record.'' Power, the previous record-holder, took it away from England's Hawksworth with a time of 1:08.6746.

HONDA GAP: Before the penalties were announced, Honda had earned three of the top six spots in the field as well as the final seven. In between are 12 Chevrolets and three more Hondas.