Dario Franchitti pips Will Power in Toronto IndyCar pole battle
Dario Franchitti produced a last-gasp effort to deny Will Power pole position in qualifying for this weekend's IndyCar race on the Toronto street circuit
Power (Penske) had moved to the top of the screens with his last flying lap, but Ganassi driver Franchitti's decision to stay out for one more stab at the top spot and was rewarded with a 59.3510s, putting him ahead of Power by just 0.02 seconds.
Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing), who had been on top with a minute remaining, was relegated to the second row by the Ganassi and Penske battle, with Dragon's Sebastien Bourdais rebounding from Friday's pitlane incident that left several members of his pitcrew with minor injuries to qualify fourth.
Ganassi's Scott Dixon and BHA's Alex Tagliani completed the top six, although Tagliani joins Andretti's James Hinchcliffe and HVM's Simona de Silvestro in facing a 10-place grid penalty for an engine change.
To a large extent, the grid was dictated by an extraordinarily tough draw for the second qualifying group, which included two Penske drivers, two Ganassi entries, three from Andretti Autosport and three KV Racing Technology cars all fighting to get into the top six and progress to the second qualifying segment.
Penske's Ryan Briscoe was one of those to miss out, although the fact that he would have bumped team-mate Power out of the top six had he improved with his final lap meant that it would have been a bittersweet achievement for the team even if he had found an extra tenth.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Takuma Sato was also in with a shout of progressing to the final six, but was docked his two quickest laps for blocking Power while returning to the racing line after running onto the marbles.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 59.3510s 2. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevy 59.3757s + 0.0247s 3. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda 59.4506s + 0.0996s 4. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Chevy 59.4721s + 0.1211s 5. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 59.5140s + 0.1630s 6. Alex Tagliani Herta DW12-Honda 59.5616s + 0.2106s 7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevy 59.4829s Round 2 8. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevy 59.5476s Round 2 9. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevy 59.5958s Round 2 10. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 59.6650s Round 2 11. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 59.8197s Round 2 12. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 59.8966s Round 2 13. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 1m00.0718s Group 1 14. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevy 59.9888s Group 2 15. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m00.1557s Group 1 16. Oriol Servia Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy 1m00.0004s Group 2 17. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevy 1m00.4508s Group 1 18. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevy 1m00.1207s Group 2 19. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda 1m00.5440s Group 1 20. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevy 1m00.2043s Group 2 21. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 1m00.6709s Group 1 22. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 1m00.2199s Group 2 23. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevy 1m01.0333s Group 1 24. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevy 1m00.6145s Group 2 25. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevy 1m02.5280s Group 1
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