Josef Newgarden rockets to Bommarito 500 Pole

Josef Newgarden saved the best for last and pulled off a terrific qualifying performance to take the pole position for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at the World Wide Technology Raceway.

The NTT IndyCar Series points leader found himself in the prime position to take the pole with the final qualifying draw. The prime target was the four-time Indy car champion Sebastien Bourdais.

The Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan driver was the 13th driver to turn a lap and laid down a 185.927 mph average to take the top spot away from teammate Santino Ferrucci.

The lap was safe until Newgarden's turn came in his No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. The 2017 NTT IndyCar Series champion scorched the 1.25-mile oval with a two lap average of 186.308 mph – a clear .15 of a second ahead of Bourdais.

Newgarden, who was victorious in IndyCar's return to St. Louis in 2017, logged the fourth quickest lap in this afternoon's practice session. He noted that his No. 2 PPG Chevrolet needed just light massaging to get it into the sweet spot for qualifying.

"It rolled off perfect," said the 14-time IndyCar race winner. "We needed to make it a little bit better, but right off the truck it was fast. It was like let's not do too much to this thing before qualifying. So we didn't touch it, we just tried to go out and to the same thing we did in practice.

"I knew we had a fast car, it's just about putting it together most of the time.

Bourdais' lap still netted him his best qualifying performance of the season and his first front row start since winning the pole at Phoenix last year.

A pair of Indianapolis 500 Team Penske drivers locked out row three with defending Gateway winner Will Power taking third ahead of Simon Pagenaud.

Takuma Sato led a five-car Honda train finishing out the top ten with the fifth quickest time ahead of Dale Coyne Racing Honda Santino Ferrucci in sixth.

James Hinchcliffe carried the banner for Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports with the seventh ahead of five-time IndyCar champ Scott Dixon in eighth.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was the fastest from the Andretti Autosport camp in ninth while Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top ten while still on the mend form his shunt last weekend at the Pocono Raceway.

Second place points man Alexander Rossi had a rather lackluster qualifying run and will roll off eleventh on the grid.

Oil-dry laid down by a vintage car before qualifying provided some tricky qualifying conditions for some of the early goers. Among those down the order are Andretti Autosport sophomore Zach Veach in 15th, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Graham Rahal in 16th.