Castroneves takes Motegi pole

The St.Petersburg race winner shares the front row with Homestead victor Dan Wheldon. They also finished first and second in last year's Motegi round.

Castroneves' pole is his 18th in the IRL, extending the Penske driver's series record.

"I found that speed in my pocket," said Castroneves. "The car was perfect. This series is very, very competitive, and I know a lot people will try to beat us tomorrow."

Andretti-Green Racing prevented a Penske/Ganassi clean sweep of the top four positions, as Tony Kanaan and Danica Patrick filled the second row for AGR and pushed Sam Hornish Jr. (Penske) and Scott Dixon (Ganassi) down to fifth and sixth.

Kanaan felt that he could have been on the front row, but was not too disappointed.

"It can always be better and I was expecting one-tenth quicker but Andretti Green Racing did a very good job," he said.

"I think we have four good race cars. It's a long race and qualifying really means nothing at this track. I'm pretty confident that we have a strong car for the race."

Patrick, who had been fastest in Thursday's practice session, was also optimistic.

"We're here to qualify on the pole but ultimately the races are long days and you can come from any position to win," she said.

"The Motorola car felt very good but having a car that can do it for 200 laps is another story and I think we've got that car. I expect to have a good race.

"I click pretty well with this track and have had solid races in the past. I really thought we had the fastest car here today but that's alright."

Qualifying times:

Pos  Driver             Team               Time
 1.  Helio Castroneves  Penske             26.6416
 2.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi            26.6744
 3.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti-Green     26.7217
 4.  Danica Patrick     Andretti-Green     26.7881
 5.  Sam Hornish Jr     Penske             26.8495
 6.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi            26.8561
 7.  Dario Franchitti   Andretti-Green     26.8600
 8.  Tomas Scheckter    Vision             26.8773
 9.  Kosuke Matsuura    Panther            26.9374
10.  Marco Andretti     Andretti-Green     26.9386
11.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold  26.9945
12.  Scott Sharp        Rahal-Letterman    27.0035
13.  Vitor Meira        Panther            27.0523
14.  AJ Foyt IV         Vision             27.0757
15.  Sarah Fisher       Dreyer & Reinbold  27.1064
16.  Ed Carpenter       Vision             27.1375
17.  Jeff Simmons       Rahal-Letterman    27.4175
18.  Darren Manning     Foyt               27.4341