Power claims his third Surfers pole

IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon joins Power on the front row, with Ryan Briscoe completing an all-Antipodean top three ahead of returnee Dario Franchitti.

KV Racing driver Power avoided the pitfalls of the damp but drying first two parts of qualifying to reach the Fast Six session, by which time the track was nearly completely dry.

He slipped back to fourth before his final lap, but then vaulted clear of his rivals with a 1:34.9451 - eight tenths of a second faster than Dixon (Ganassi)

Having taken his third straight Surfers pole, Power is now determined to convert his starting position into a race win, having got caught up in incidents in all his home Champ Car races.

"This year we've got to get it right," said the Australian. "All the things that are in our control, we've just got to do a really solid race. That's our plan."

Dixon could have been eliminated in first qualifying but for a rapid last gasp lap in the final sprint after a stoppage late in the session.

Having safely made it through to the final shoot-out, the champion held on to second ahead of Penske driver Briscoe, who brushed the wall on his first Fast Six lap but was able to rejoin after very rapid suspension repairs.

Franchitti continued his excellent comeback form to take fourth, ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay (Rahal Letterman) - who survived a wild flight over the kerbs near the end of final qualifying - and Helio Castroneves (Penske).

By the end of the top 12 session, the track was dry enough for everyone to use slicks, but with conditions improving with every second, several potential pole contenders were knocked out because they completed their flying laps too soon.

Final practice pace-setter Justin Wilson (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) was the most notable departure and will start ninth, one place behind Andretti Green's Tony Kanaan.

Alex Tagliani looked set for a Fast Six spot until the last moment, but his seventh on the grid is still Conquest's best starting position since they returned to the IndyCar Series.

Rookies EJ Viso (HVM) and Mario Moraes (Dale Coyne Racing), and new AJ Foyt Racing signing Vitor Meira also did well to reach the top 12 run-off, with Viso and Meira taking 10th and 11th, while Moraes had his best times cancelled for causing a stoppage when he spun and became stuck on the first chicane kerbs.

Some drivers who had starred in practice failed to even get beyond the first qualifying groups. Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan), Oriol Servia (KV) and Bruno Junqueira (Dale Coyne) all looked capable of reaching the top ten, but didn't get sufficiently quick laps in on the drying track in first qualifying, so will start 13th, 15th and 17th respectively.

Marco Andretti actually fared better in the wet and took 14th, having struggled to break into the top 20 in the dry this morning, whereas his Andretti Green teammate Danica Patrick crashed and will start on the back row, alongside double spinner AJ Foyt IV (Vision Racing).

Dan Wheldon's low-key start to his Panther Racing return continued as he took 18th on the grid.

Pos  Driver             Team                 Time
 1.  Will Power         KV                   1:34.9451
 2.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi              1:35.7672
 3.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske               1:35.8007
 4.  Dario Franchitti   Ganassi              1:35.9336
 5.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Rahal Letterman      1:36.4030
 6.  Helio Castroneves  Penske               1:36.7425
 7.  Alex Tagliani      Conquest             1:41.3122
 8.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green       1:41.4023
 9.  Justin Wilson      Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1:42.0429
10.  EJ Viso            HVM                  1:42.9185
11.  Vitor Meira        Foyt                 1:44.3348
12.  Mario Moraes       Dale Coyne           1:51.5054
13.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1:55.6155
14.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green       1:52.2084
15.  Oriol Servia       KV                   1:55.6628
16.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green       1:53.3353
17.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne           1:58.0183
18.  Dan Wheldon        Panther              1:53.9160
19.  Ed Carpenter       Vision               1:58.7664
20.  Jaime Camara       Conquest             1:54.0514
21.  Townsend Bell      Dreyer & Reinbold    1:58.9264
22.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold    1:54.3489
23.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green
24.  AJ Foyt IV         Vision