Josef Newgarden’s breakthrough year continues, as the pilot of the No. 67 CFH Racing Chevrolet earned the first Verizon P1 Award of his career and will start from pole for Sunday evening's ABC Supply Wisconsin 250.
In the process, Newgarden became the first non-Team Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing driver to score a pole-position. However, his efforts kept Chevrolet’s qualifying streak alive, as no Honda-powered entries have started from P1 so far this year.
The qualifying in Milwaukee followed the single-car, two-lap average format. Pippa Mann, fresh out of her best-ever finish last time out at Fontana, was the first driver to hit the track, posting a 159.214 mph average, which in the end was the slowest lap of the session.
As the session continued, Sebastian Bourdais, in the No. 11 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet was the first driver to stand out, with a 168.462 two-lap average that proved to be good for a top-10 result.
James Jakes, however, snagged the lead with a 169.317 average in his attempt.
Halfway through the session, Jakes topped the charts, with Charlie Kimball right behind him. However, the top dogs were yet to set their times.
Tony Kanaan went fastest, but was quickly overcame by Newgarden, whose clocked time was not to be bested for the remainder of the session.
Ryan Briscoe, after a strong performance at the MAVTV 500 in the No. 5 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda entry, posted a late two-lap average of 170.086 to claim second position on the grid.
Ganassi rookie Sage Karam was third fastest.
Kanaan, with a 169.542 mph two-lap average in his two fast laps, will share the second row with him. James Jakes and Graham Rahal (169.126 mph two-lap average), complete the third row. Charlie Kimball in the No. 83 Ganassi Chevrolet was seventh.
Points leader Juan Pablo Montoya will start eighth, making him the best qualified Penske entry in the worst qualifying session for the team this season.
Helio Castroneves was 10 minutes late through tech inspection and will be forced to start from the back of the grid. He will share the last row with Dale Coyne Racing’s Pippa Mann.
Qualifying went extremely well for the Schmidt Peterson pair of Ryan Briscoe (P2) and James Jakes (P5), as both will be starting from within the top-five. These are very intriguing results, especially taking into account the fact that the winner at Milwaukee rarely comes from outside the top-10.
The green flag is set to fly for this evening's 250-mile race at the historic Milwaukee Mile at 5:35 pm ET.
Be sure to follow @VAVELIndyCar on Twitter for live tweeting during the race, or click here for the LIVE article that will bring minute-to-minute coverage of all 250-laps this evening.
Pete Liguori is a writer for the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow him on Twitter at @PeteUSSports.