Entering the final 26 laps of the race, six cars, Juan Pablo Montoya, Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon, Bourdais and the Dale Coyne Racing twins of Conor Daly and Gabby Chaves went off sequence to not pit and leapfrog the leaders, with Will Power leading those who stopped.
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Pagenaud’s fast lap in the Fast Six, the last of three rounds of knockout qualifying on the 2.35-mile (3.78 Km) temporary street course, was 1min 14.9166sec.
Scott Dixon timed a lap of 1:15.754 in the Target Chevy and points leader Simon Pagenaud was at 1:15.9 in the third Team Penske vehicle.
Simon Pagenaud ran out of fuel on the last lap and fell to 13th.
“Obviously there was a bit of strategy on our side with the Firestone tires”, he added.
It was also during this time when James Hinchcliffe caused the caution on Lap 42, locking his brakes in rainy conditions, getting loose and slamming into the tire barrier in Turn 7 while running sixth. “They’re working really well for us and it paid off, so I’m really, really delighted”.
Bourdais then emerged ahead of him in the No. 11 Team Hydroxycut KVSH Racing Chevrolet and stretched the lead to a few seconds.
Castroneves, a three-time Belle Isle race victor, shattered the track record in the second segment of qualifying with a top lap of 1:14.6899 (113.268 mph) in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet.
“I set the record on the wrong session”, Castroneves joked. “I knew we were going to have bad weekends, because you can’t have a ideal weekend every day”.
Australian driver Matt Mingay was in critical condition at a hospital after a crash in a Stadium Super Trucks race at Belle Isle on Saturday. “We actually struggled a lot this morning”.
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FALLING BACK: Indy 500 victor Alexander Rossi was 17th out of 22 cars in qualifying, failing to advance past the first round.
