Sunday, June 1, 2014

Morning Warm-Up: Belle Isle 2014 Race Two

Takuma Sato became the first repeat pole sitter in 2014 by winning pole for race two at Belle Isle
Takuma Sato stunned many with a 1:16.1371 minute lap to steal pole position away from Hélio Castroneves and James Hinchcliffe. This is Sato's second pole of the season and fifth of his career. Hinchcliffe will start second by virtue of being fastest in group one. This is the third consecutive race Hinchcliffe is starting second and ninth time in his career.

Hélio Castroneves was second fastest in group two and will start third next to Mike Conway who starts fourth for the second consecutive day. Ryan Briscoe starts fifth for the second consecutive race. Carlos Muñoz joins Briscoe on row three. Simon Pagenaud and Will Power start on row four. Pagenaud had his race end on Saturday after contact with Power while Power came from sixteenth to get the victory, further back than any previous Belle Isle winner. Sebastián Saavedra and Josef Newgarden round out the top ten. Saavedra turns 24 years old tomorrow.

Sébastien Bourdais starts eleventh. The Frenchman is still looking for his first career top ten finish at Belle Isle. Carlos Huertas joins him on row six in twelfth. Just behind Huertas is his Dale Coyne Racing teammate Justin Wilson. Next to Wilson on row seven is his former Newman-Haas teammate and runner-up from yesterday Graham Rahal. This will be Rahal's 102nd start since his victory at St. Petersburg over six years ago. Juan Pablo Montoya rounds out the top fifteen with Mikhail Aleshin joining the Colombian on row eight.

Former Andretti teammates Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti start on row nine. Jack Hawksworth and Kanaan's Ganassi teammate Charlie Kimball round out the top twenty. The last two series champions Ryan Hunter-Reay and Scott Dixon will start on the final row. Hunter-Reay for the second time in as many days hit the wall and had his qualifying session end early. 

ABC's coverage of race two from Belle Isle begins at 3:30 p.m. ET.