Dixon top of the rookie class

The 20-year old from New Zealand, who is the youngest man in the field, qualified his Toyota/Reynard 14th fastest, three spots (and 0.179 second) ahead of his senior team mate, Mauricio Gugelmin.

"I'm just glad to be out here on a race weekend ­ the anticipation has been a killer," commented Dixon. "I feel as though I could have finished P1 in my qualifying group (Scott was third fastest in the first of two groups) but traffic and a couple of offs by other drivers held me up. My last two laps were messed up by traffic, but I know my car was definitely good enough for a top 10 starting position.

"It feels great to be the fastest rookie in the field, and it just shows the hard work my team and I endured during testing has paid off. I can't wait to line the cars up tomorrow for my first race."

Target/Ganassi twins Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian were 20th and 21st, followed by rookies Michael Krumm (23rd), Tora Takagi (25th) and max Wilson (26th).