Hunter-Reay takes first pole

"I didn't think we had it in us," said Hunter-Reay. "We worked real hard for this. We had a great test and backed it up with a quick car off the truck, giving us real positive results up to this point.

"We knew what we had to do going into qualifying and we were able to accomplish it," he added, "I have great expectations with my new team and I am so happy to put the Herdez car on the pole. I look forward to a clean race tomorrow with positive results."

Bourdais, who crashed heavily in testing at the one-mile oval last month, was almost as delighted with second place. "This result is a lot better then I expected and the car was good," said the Frenchman " The test we ran here in May really helped us a lot. Even though I crashed, we got a lot of good stuff done.

"Tomorrow, I am going to race hard and try to stay up front because it is a long race and a lot of things can happen. I believe the experience at Newman/Haas Racing has will play a large role in how we finish."

Patrick Carpentier was the fastest of the Forsythe cars, out-pacing reigning champion and Long Beach winner Paul Tracy who qualified fifth. Splitting them on the grid is the second Herdez car of Mario Dominguez. The third Forsythe entry, driven by Rodolfo Lavin, will start sixth.

Alex Tagliani (Rocketsports) qualified seventh ahead of former champion Jimmy Vasser (PKV) Michel Jourdain Jr (RuSPORT) and Bruno Junqueira way back in tenth for Newman/Haas Racing. British star Justin Wilson could only manage 12th on his oval competition debut.

The Time Warner Cable Roadrunner 250, will take place tonight (Saturday) under the Milwaukee track's Musco lighting system.

Ryan Hunter-Reay Herdez 20.509s
Sebastien Bourdais Newman/Haas 20.667s
Patrick Carpentier Forsythe 20.740s
Mario Dominguez Herdez 20.785s
Paul Tracy Forsythe 20.800s
Rodolfo Lavin Forsythe 20.809s
Alex Tagliani Rocketsports 20.815s
Jimmy Vasser PKV 20.854s
Michel Jourdain Jr RuSPORT 20.862s
Bruno Junqueira Newman/Haas 20.867s