Power Leads Practice At Edmonton

EDMONTON, July 24, 2010: The drivers who have earned the six PEAK Performance Pole Awards on street/road courses this season gave a preview of what's to come in the first round of IZOD IndyCar Series qualifications July 24 for the Honda Indy Edmonton. Of the top 12 on the combined practice time sheet July 23, eight are in that first group.

"It will be the toughest qualifying session of the year," said Will Power, the defending race winner who topped the field with a quick lap of 1 minute, 1.6689 seconds (115.176 mph) in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car over the two hours of practice on the 1.973-mile, 14-turn City Centre Airport circuit.

Teammates Ryan Briscoe was two-tenths of a second behind and Helio Castroneves was third with a best lap of 1:02.0152. The top 11 cars were separated by less than a second.

"It's great to see the Verizon car on top in practice, but I'm not quite happy with it," said Power, who is seeking his third consecutive victory. "The Penske team is very strong again here and with how competitive the field is now we have to work extra hard. We're feeding off each other and see if we can be 1-2-3 again tomorrow."