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Briscoe leads all-Penske front row

Team Penske followed up their one-two qualifying and race performances last weekend at Mid-Ohio with an impressive one-two qualifying effort in their initial visit to the Edmonton City Centre Airport circuit today

As was the case on race day at Mid-Ohio, Ryan Briscoe led the way, edging teammate Helio Castroneves by 0.1049 seconds to take the pole

The result was Penske's 50th pole since joining the Indy Racing League in 2002, and also marked their fourth consecutive pole position, with Briscoe and Castroneves having alternated at the head of the field since Watkins Glen.

Briscoe was fortunate to even make it as far as the top six session, as a water leak had delayed him at the start of part two of qualifying, and he only made the final cut-off in the closing seconds.

"This one didn't come easy," said Briscoe. "At one stage I wasn't even sure I was going to make it into the top six segment of qualifying. We were making set-up changes throughout the session and I hadn't been able to put a good clear lap together.

"Fortunately I got one when it counted and then the team really got it together for the final ten minutes of qualifying. Phenomenal. To have Team Penske one-two is absolutely perfect."

KVRT's Oriol Servia pipped Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon for third on the grid by all of 0.0001 seconds, with Servia's teammate Will Power taking fifth on the grid as KV produced their best qualifying performance since joining the IRL IndyCar Series.

Justin Wilson will start sixth despite crashing in the waning moments of the Fast Twelve segment of qualifying. The Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver was able to coax his damaged Dallara-Honda into a safety area, and so did not cause the red flag stoppage that would have resulted in the loss of his fastest lap.

Although he was unable to participate in the final segment of the session, his best time of the session was fast enough to qualify him for the Fast Six pole position shoot-out.

Not so fortunate was Tony Kanaan, who damaged an engine in a qualifying spin. Although his time was good enough to qualify twelfth, the Andretti Green Racing team will have to change the engine for tomorrow and by IndyCar Series rules he will have to start at the back of the field. Kanaan had been the only member of the AGR quartet to quality for the top 12 session on a poor day for the team.

Bruno Junqueira (Dale Coyne) and Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) were squeezed out of the Fast Six in the final seconds and will share row four, ahead of Ganassi's Dan Wheldon, Junqueira's teammate Mario Moraes and Conquest's Enrique Bernoldi. Moraes achieved his best qualifying result yet despite crashing late in the second segment.

Returning Canadian hero Paul Tracy also had a disappointing session. He felt his Walker Racing-run Vision car was too laden with fuel on his first qualifying run, then ran out of time to complete a final flying lap after Marty Roth spun and stalled, causing a stoppage.

Tracy subsequently managed a lap that would have placed him in the top 12 session, but had started it moments after the chequered flag. He will therefore start 16th, two places behind Watkins Glen winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, who crashed his Rahal Letterman Dallara-Honda in the final seconds of first qualifying.

Pos  Driver             Team                 Time
 1.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske               1:00.7311
 2.  Helio Castroneves  Penske               1:00.8360
 3.  Oriol Servia       KV                   1:00.8584
 4.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi              1:00.8585
 5.  Will Power         KV                   1:01.0154
 6.  Justin Wilson      Newman/Haas/Lanigan
 7.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne           1:01.2991
 8.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1:01.4573
 9.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi              1:01.6656
10.  Mario Moraes       Dale Coyne           1:01.7552
11.  Enrique Bernoldi   Conquest             1:02.0227
12.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green
13.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green       1:02.2991
14.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Rahal Letterman      1:02.1039
15.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green       1:02.4171
16.  Paul Tracy         Vision               1:02.2387
17.  Vitor Meira        Panther              1:02.4907
18.  AJ Foyt IV         Vision               1:03.1346
19.  Darren Manning     Foyt                 1:02.6644
20.  Mario Dominguez    Pacific Coast        1:03.1359
21.  EJ Viso            HVM                  1:03.9242
22.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green       1:03.8100
23.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold    1:03.4276
24.  Ed Carpenter       Vision               1:03.8825
25.  Townsend Bell      Dreyer & Reinbold    1:03.6396
26.  Marty Roth         Roth                 1:09.0498
27.  Jaime Camara       Conquest             1:03.8572

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