In motorsports, the pole position is the position at the front at the start of a racing event. This position may be inside or outside of the front row, depending on where the racing line is on the particular circuit, but it will always be ahead of the other vehicle on the front row.

What does the phrase pole position mean?

: the front position at the start of a car race He won the pole position by having the fastest qualifying time.

Is pole position on the left or right?

Generally speaking the pole position should be on the left, and it was until 2010. But in 2011 they moved it to the right hand side of the track, because the pole slot is actually closer to the exit of the last corner than the entry of Turn 1 - making the racing line actually still on the right hand side there.