Takuma Sato surges to Edmonton IndyCar pole for KV
Takuma Sato will start from pole position for the second time this year in the IndyCar Series' Edmonton round
The result was the KV driver's first road course pole, and the first time that anyone had prevented Will Power from starting first on a road or street course this year.
Power was Sato's closest rival, the Penske man getting to within 0.0509 seconds of snatching pole, but proving unable to continue his domination of qualifying.
The Ganassi team-mates will share row two, with Scott Dixon ahead of Dario Franchitti.
EJ Viso backed up Sato's pole with fifth place for KV, alongside Penske's Ryan Briscoe.
Outside the pole shoot-out group, fourth row partners Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) and Oriol Servia (Newman/Haas) ended their qualifying sessions arguing over blocking and track manners.
Helio Castroneves was the only Penske driver to miss the Fast Six cut and starts ninth, ahead of top Canadian James Hinchcliffe in the second Newman/Haas car.
Tony Kanaan went in a different set-up direction to his KV team-mates and was back in 11th. Sebastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing) shares row six with the Brazilian, having been the only other man to escape from the group stages.
Ganassi's Graham Rahal and Foyt's Vitor Meira narrowly missed making it into the top 12 session and will start 13th and 14th.
Justin Wilson was a surprise early eliminaton, the Dreyer & Reinbold driver ruing waiting too long before going out in his group. He starts 15th.
Also out at the first hurdle was Alex Tagliani. Though the Canadian had been strong in final practice, his Sam Schmidt Motorsports car did not pick up the anticipated speed on soft tyres in qualifying.
Hunter-Reay was by far the most successful of the Andretti drivers, with his team-mates Marco Andretti, Mike Conway and Danica Patrick down in 19th, 20th and 22nd.
Simona de Silvestro salvaged 16th after a difficult practice morning for HVM, while James Jakes produced his strongest IndyCar qualifying form for Dale Coyne yet in 18th.
But Paul Tracy's tough weekend failed to pick up - the Canadian hero will start on the back row for Dragon Racing.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. Takuma Sato KV 1m18.5165s 2. Will Power Penske 1m18.5674s + 0.0509s 3. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m18.6442s + 0.1277s 4. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m18.6628s + 0.1463s 5. EJ Viso KV 1m18.7383s + 0.2218s 6. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m19.0267s + 0.5102s 7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m18.6678s Round 2 8. Oriol Servia Newman/Haas 1m18.7142s Round 2 9. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m18.7669s Round 2 10. James Hinchcliffe Newman/Haas 1m18.9323s Round 2 11. Tony Kanaan KV 1m19.0190s Round 2 12. Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne 1m19.3802s Round 2 13. Graham Rahal Ganassi 1m19.0682s Group 1 14. Vitor Meira Foyt 1m18.9781s Group 2 15. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m19.0732s Group 1 16. Simona de Silvestro HVM 1m19.2084s Group 2 17. Alex Tagliani Sam Schmidt 1m19.1329s Group 1 18. James Jakes Dale Coyne 1m19.3533s Group 2 19. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m19.6204s Group 1 20. Mike Conway Andretti 1m19.4007s Group 2 21. Charlie Kimball Ganassi 1m20.0348s Group 1 22. Danica Patrick Andretti 1m19.4713s Group 2 23. Ana Beatriz Dreyer & Reinbold 1m20.3224s Group 1 24. JR Hildebrand Panther 1m19.5237s Group 2 25. Paul Tracy Dragon 1m20.4836s Group 1 26. Sebastian Saavedra Conquest 1m19.7200s Group 2
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