Castroneves leads early qualifying

Under the 2010 system, the top 24 places on the grid are set today, with the fastest nine from the first five hours of qualifying going forward into a new 90-minute shoot-out for the front three rows of the grid.

Penske's Castroneves and Will Power lead the way into the pole fight, but again the star of the session was Alex Tagliani and the incredible new Fazzt team. Tagliani was quickest of all following the field's first runs, with Castroneves and Power only able to beat his speed on their second attempts.

Both Ganassi cars go through to the shoot-out, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon taking fourth and fifth this afternoon.

Also fighting for pole will be Newman/Haas' Hideki Mutoh, Ryan Briscoe in the final Penske entry, and part-time combinations Graham Rahal and Rahal Letterman Racing and Ed Carpenter with the Panther/Vision Racing partnership.

Positions 10th to 24th on the grid are now set, with returnee Townsend Bell taking 10th in the satellite Ganassi car run by Sam Schmidt Motorsports.

It was a disastrous afternoon for Andretti Autosport, which does not have a single car in the pole shoot-out.

Tony Kanaan crashed on his first qualifying attempt, spinning at Turn 1 and sliding backwards right the way down to Turn 2 before slamming into the wall, ending his participation in the day.

Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay secured 16th and 17th on the grid, while Danica Patrick was distraught to only achieve 23rd. John Andretti could not muster sufficient speed today.

It was a tough day for KV Racing too. Takuma Sato missed all of qualifying due to his massive crash in morning practice, while Paul Tracy abandoned his first run after his car went into neutral, and was not quick enough later to stay within the top 24.

Mario Moraes wiped the rear wing from his car when he spun on his first run, but a great effort from the team got him back on track for another attempt in the final minutes of the first segment, during which he grabbed 13th.

All four of Dreyer & Reinbold's drivers are securely in the field, led by Justin Wilson in 11th. Both De Ferran Dragon cars also qualified today, as did Panther's Dan Wheldon - albeit in a disappointing 18th - and HVM's rookie Simona de Silvestro.

Formula Renault 3.5 champion Bertrand Baguette impressively made it into the field on day one for Conquest, hanging on to the crucial 24th spot at the end as Jay Howard's attempt to bump back in for Sarah Fisher Racing failed.

Both AJ Foyt and Dale Coyne cars are also among those who were not fast enough to qualify today so must try again on Bump Day, when the final three rows of the grid will be set.

Pos  Driver               Team               Speed
 1.  Helio Castroneves    Penske             226.775mph
 2.  Will Power           Penske             226.412mph
 3.  Alex Tagliani        Fazzt              226.392mph
 4.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi            226.156mph
 5.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi            225.795mph
 6.  Graham Rahal         Rahal Letterman    225.617mph
 7.  Hideki Mutoh         Newman/Haas        225.423mph
 8.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske             225.365mph
 9.  Ed Carpenter         Panther/Vision     225.168mph
10.  Townsend Bell        Ganassi/Schmidt    225.097mph
11.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold  225.050mph
12.  Raphael Matos        de Ferran Dragon   225.029mph
13.  Mario Moraes         KV                 224.888mph
14.  Davey Hamilton       de Ferran Dragon   224.852mph
15.  Mike Conway          Dreyer & Reinbold  224.583mph
16.  Marco Andretti       Andretti           224.575mph
17.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti           224.548mph
18.  Dan Wheldon          Panther            224.465mph
19.  EJ Viso              KV                 224.380mph
20.  Tomas Scheckter      Dreyer & Reinbold  224.261mph
21.  Ana Beatriz          Dreyer & Reinbold  224.243mph
22.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                224.228mph
23.  Danica Patrick       Andretti           224.219mph
24.  Bertrand Baguette    Conquest           224.189mph

Did not qualify:

     Jay Howard           Sarah Fisher
     AJ Foyt IV           Foyt
     Mario Romancini      Conquest
     Vitor Meira          Foyt
     John Andretti        Andretti
     Paul Tracy           KV
     Sebastian Saavedra   Herta
     Milka Duno           Dale Coyne
     Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne
     Tony Kanaan          Andretti
     Sarah Fisher         Sarah Fisher
     Takuma Sato          KV