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Toronto IndyCar: Sebastien Bourdais claims first pole since 2007

Sebastien Bourdais capitalised on an aggressive strategy by KV Racing Technology to secure pole position for the first race of this weekend's IndyCar double-header in Toronto

Bourdais was one of the first cars in the Fast Six to go out on new tyres, but with the track clearly improving, the team called him in to put on another new set.

The Frenchman responded with a 58.9479-second lap that put him 0.1546s clear at the top. His last pole came in the 2007 Assen Champ Car race.

"It's been six years since I was on pole, so it's been a long time coming," he said.

"The call by the team... I was really pissed. I thought it was a big mistake.

"Jimmy [Vasser] obviously sees things from pitlane that I can't. We were thinking about waiting, but TK [Tony Kanaan] and Ryan Hunter-Reay, who usually waits until the last three minutes, went straight away.

"We thought that if we went, everybody behind us would go as well, and they didn't.

"We did a fast lap and they brought me in and put on another set of tyres and we gave it another go. It was a risky move, but it paid off."

Will Power will join Bourdais on the front row after edging Penske team-mate Helio Castroneves by just 0.04s, leaving Hunter-Reay to line up from fourth.

Simon Pagenaud could potentially have beaten all of them, but the Schmidt driver carried too much speed through the final corner on his last flying lap and understeered into the barriers. His best time was still good enough for him to finish up fifth-fastest ahead of Kanaan.

While Pagenaud's crash was the most dramatic incident of the morning, it was not an isolated one: Scott Dixon glanced the wall and bent his suspension during the second qualifying phase, relegating the Kiwi to 12th on the grid.

Further back, Marco Andretti will start from the rear of the field, and while his final flying lap was ruined when he got stuck behind Takuma Sato, he did not hold the Japanese driver responsible for his plight.

"I caught him on the last lap, but it wasn't blocking me from getting into the next round," he said. "We might have been better than where we are, for sure, but... it's just disappointing."

Pos  Driver              Team/Engine      Time        Gap
 1.  Sebastien Bourdais  KV/Chevy         58.9479s
 2.  Will Power          Penske/Chevy     59.1025s    +0.1546s
 3.  Helio Castroneves   Penske/Chevy     59.1499s    +0.2020s
 4.  Ryan Hunter-Reay    Andretti/Honda   59.2672s    +0.3193s
 5.  Simon Pagenaud      Schmidt/Honda    59.3972s    +0.4493s
 6.  Tony Kanaan         Ganassi/Chevy    59.9987s    +1.0508s
 7.  Luca Filippi        Rahal/Honda      59.2753s    Round 2
 8.  Justin Wilson       Coyne/Honda      59.3406s    Round 2
 9.  James Hinchcliffe   Andretti/Honda   59.3526s    Round 2
10.  Ryan Briscoe        Ganassi/Chevy    59.5319s    Round 2
11.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Penske/Chevy     59.8201s    Round 2
12.  Scott Dixon         Ganassi/Chevy    1m00.2193s  Round 2
13.  Josef Newgarden     Fisher/Honda     59.4455s    Group 1
14.  Graham Rahal        Rahal/Honda      59.9495s    Group 2
15.  Takuma Sato         Foyt/Honda       59.5367s    Group 1
16.  Mike Conway         Carpenter/Chevy  59.9904s    Group 2
17.  Carlos Munoz        Andretti/Honda   59.5708s    Group 1
18.  Jack Hawksworth     Herta/Honda      1m00.1856s  Group 2
19.  Sebastian Saavedra  KV/Chevy         59.6806s    Group 1
20.  Charlie Kimball     Ganassi/Chevy    1m00.2304s  Group 2
21.  Carlos Huertas      Coyne/Honda      59.7244s    Group 1
22.  Mikhail Aleshin     Schmidt/Honda    1m00.2379s  Group 2
23.  Marco Andretti      Andretti/Honda   59.9816s    Group 1

All drivers use Dallara chassis

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