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Power takes dominant pole at Barber

Will Power claimed his second IndyCar pole position in succession with a dominant display in qualifying for tomorrow's race at Barber Motorsports Park

The Australian Penske driver was fastest in all three of his segments of qualifying and finished the Fast Six session half a second clear at the front.

"It went pretty smoothly once I was able to save set of reds," said Power. "I've just got to execute in race. If we can win, let's win. If not, let's just get as many points as possible. It's going well for us, I just don't want to make any mistakes.

"It's definitely better to be up the front here. It'll be tough to pass because some people will go off strategy hoping to get helped out by a yellow. It's a tough race to win because if you get unlucky with a yellow you can be down in the pack and not able to pass."

Mike Conway will join Power on the front row after earning his best starting spot of his IndyCar career.

Both Conway and Power were able to save an extra set of the softer tyres through the rounds of qualifying, and Conway used his on his final run to snatch a front row start away from Helio Castroneves.

"I got through the first one without using the reds and that gave us an advantage for the rest of qualifying, so I'm happy," said Conway. "We've still got a lot to do overnight to improve things for the warm-up, but we should have a good race."

Marco Andretti, Takumo Sato and Scott Dixon will complete the first three rows of the grid, but none had the soft tyres or the pace to threaten the front row in the Fast Six session.

Dario Franchitti missed the Fast Six session for the second consecutive race when his last effort was shy of Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon's time. Tony Kanaan, Ryan Briscoe, EJ Viso, Justin Wilson and Mario Moraes were the other cars eliminated in Round 2.

Ryan Hunter-Reay failed to make it through Round 1 Group 2 when his final effort wasn't quick enough to displace Wilson, while Vitor Meira lost out when he had a trip through the gravel in the last two minutes and was unable to improve his time. Danica Patrick and Dan Wheldon were among those to go out in Group 1.

Round 1 Group 1
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m10.533s 2. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m10.618s +0.085 3. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 1m10.744s +0.211 4. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m10.875s +0.341 5. Tony Kanaan Andretti 1m10.941s +0.408 6. Mario Moraes KV 1m11.003s +0.469 7. Simona de Silvestro HVM 1m11.026s +0.492 8. Graham Rahal Sarah Fisher 1m11.149s +0.615 9. Hideki Mutoh Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1m11.285s +0.751 10. Danica Patrick Andretti 1m11.534s +1.000 11. Alex Tagliani FAZZT 1m11.566s +1.033 12. Dan Wheldon Panther 1m11.609s +1.075 13. Bertrand Baguette Conquest 1m11.980s +1.446
Round 1 Group 2
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Will Power Penske 1m10.259s 2. Takuma Sato KV 1m10.398s +0.139 3. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m10.593s +0.334 4. Ernesto Viso KV 1m10.644s +0.385 5. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m10.720s +0.461 6. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m10.738s +0.479 7. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m10.744s +0.485 8. Alex Lloyd Dale Coyne 1m10.952s +0.692 9. Raphael Matos de Ferran/Luczo Dragon 1m11.050s +0.791 10. Vitor Meira Foyt 1m11.134s +0.875 11. Mario Romancini Conquest 1m11.602s +1.342 12. Milka Duno Dale Coyne 1m15.142s +4.882
Round 2
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Will Power Penske 1m10.106s 2. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m10.417s +0.311 3. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m10.472s +0.366 4. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 1m10.558s +0.452 5. Takuma Sato KV 1m10.564s +0.458 6. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m10.627s +0.521 7. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m10.630s +0.524 8. Tony Kanaan Andretti 1m10.690s +0.584 9. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m10.760s +0.654 10. Ernesto Viso KV 1m10.775s +0.669 11. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m10.776s +0.670 12. Mario Moraes KV 1m11.521s +1.415
Fast Six
Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Will Power Penske 1m10.135s 2. Mike Conway Dreyer & Reinbold 1m10.650s +0.514 3. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m10.656s +0.521 4. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m11.070s +0.934 5. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m11.355s +1.220 6. Takuma Sato KV 1m11.438s +1.303
Final grid line-up:

Pos  Driver               Team                    Time
 1.  Will Power           Penske                  1m10.1356s
 2.  Mike Conway          Dreyer & Reinbold       1m10.6501s
 3.  Helio Castroneves    Penske                  1m10.6569s
 4.  Marco Andretti       Andretti                1m11.0701s
 5.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi                 1m11.3557s
 6.  Takuma Sato          KV                      1m11.4387s
 7.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi                 1m10.6307s
 8.  Tony Kanaan          Andretti                1m10.6903s
 9.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske                  1m10.7602s
10.  EJ Viso              KV                      1m10.7757s
11.  Justin Wilson        Dreyer & Reinbold       1m10.7760s
12.  Mario Moraes         KV                      1m11.5219s
13.  Simona de Silvestro  HVM                     1m11.0262s
14.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti                1m10.7449s
15.  Graham Rahal         Sarah Fisher            1m11.1495s
16.  Alex Lloyd           Dale Coyne              1m10.9524s
17.  Hideki Mutoh         Newman/Haas/Lanigan     1m11.2855s
18.  Raphael Matos        Luczo Dragon/de Ferran  1m11.0507s
19.  Danica Patrick       Andretti                1m11.5340s
20.  Vitor Meira          Foyt                    1m11.1348s
21.  Alex Tagliani        FAZZT                   1m11.5669s
22.  Mario Romancini      Conquest                1m11.6020s
23.  Dan Wheldon          Panther                 1m11.6095s
24.  Milka Duno           Dale Coyne              1m15.1422s
25.  Bertrand Baguette    Conquest                1m11.9800s

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