Simon Pagenaud made a statement on the race track back in May. He doesn’t speak many controversial words, but rather lets his driving do his talking. When everyone was talking about his ride with Team Penske being in jeopardy past this season, he only swept both races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway including a win in the prestigious in the Indianapolis 500. The Frenchman went from 11th in the NTT IndyCar Series standings in Long Beach to the points lead leaving Indy.

After a rough few races with what Pagenaud admitted had an Indy 500 race winner’s hangover, he’s showing this weekend in Toronto that we can’t doubt it.

See, after the terror that Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi have been on, everyone pretty much counted the rest of the field out for this year’s championship. Pagenaud is saying, not so fast again.

The Penske driver was quickest in practice on Friday and backed that up with topping the speed charts in Saturday morning’s session around the Toronto street course. In qualifying, he earned his 12th career pole.

Pagenaud, circled the track with a lap of 58.429-seconds in his No. 22 Chevrolet for his second pole of the season. His last, he led 116 of 200 laps en route to that Indy 500 win in May 26.

If he can do so again in Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto (3 p.m. ET/NBCSN/INDYCAR Radio Network) then that 61 point deficit could evaporate.

See, his main rivals for this year’s title have all struggled this weekend. Josef Newgarden crashed in Turn 11 during the Fast Six and will start fifth as a result in his No. 2 Chevrolet. Newgarden, was only eighth quickest on Friday and 13th in Saturday’s practice. He has won two of the last four races in Toronto but only finished 22nd and ninth in the other two chances.

Rossi, scrapped the wall on his Fast Six run and could only muster a time of 59.921-seconds in his No. 27 Honda. The Andretti Autosport driver was 14th quickest on Friday and seventh on Saturday in practice. He has just one top five finish in three career tries on the Exhibition Place circuit too.

The other rival in Scott Dixon spun on his qualifying lap and will start second as a result. Dixon, qualified with a lap of 58.594-seconds in his No. 9 Honda. Dixon, is the defending race winner but has just one podium in Toronto since his weekend sweep in 2013.

He was fifth and 15th respectively in the two days of practice.

Rookie Felix Rosenqvist (58.679-seconds) rounded out the top five in qualifying.

Honda Indy Toronto Starting Lineup

Row 1: Simon Pagenaud, Scott Dixon

Row 2: Felix Rosenqvist R, Alexander Rossi

Row 3: Josef Newgarden, Ed Jones

Row 4: Marco Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais

Row 5: Spencer Pigot, Takuma Sato

Row 6: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Graham Rahal

Row 7: Max Chilton, James Hinchcliffe

Row 8: Will Power, Colton Herta R

Row 9: Santino Ferrucci R, Zach Veach

Row 10: Matheus Leist, Marcus Ericsson R

Row 11: Sage Karam, Tony Kanaan