Qual: Castroneves on pole

By the time qualifying had ended, the list of record-breakers included Castroneves, Rice, Mark Taylor, Sam Hornish Jr., Tomas Scheckter, Scott Dixon, Bryan Herta, Vitor Meira, Tora Takagi, Tony Kanaan and Darren Manning. This is just the third race for the IRL IndyCar Series' new 3.0-litre engine formula, reduced from 3.5 before the Indianapolis 500 in May, but the notable jump in speed is likely caused by a smooth new asphalt surface at RIR.

"It's as smooth as a baby's butt," said Castroneves, who recorded the first pole of the season for a Toyota-powered car. "It turned out really good. I'm sure we're going to put on a good show on this surface."

Briton's Taylor shone for Panther Racing to take the third fastest time in his Dallara Chevrolet, two spots ahead of team-mate Tomas Scheckter. "The setup is very important here," said Taylor. "Panther has had some great success around here. It's definitely a place where the driver needs a lot of confidence in his car to go quick. Chevy has made a step forward as far as power is concerned. I'm happy with where they're going."

The track's new surface has eliminated bumps - especially a rough surface on the entry of Turn One - which has allowed drivers to stay on the throttle deeper into turns. Five drivers topped de Ferran's mark during an abbreviated practice session Friday afternoon.

"You go into the corner and you just can't believe the thing is going to make it out the other end," said Herta, who will start on the inside of the fourth row in his Andretti Green Racing Honda-powered Dallara. "You have so much steering and it's such a tight corner, yet you're carrying so much throttle and so much speed that you stick. It's amazing how much grip there is here."

Some drivers aren't convinced that the new surface will provide great racing however. The new engine formula has already been criticised for diminishing the ability to pass; that might be magnified by Richmond's new, faster surface. "You're carrying so much speed that it's going to be hard to get a run on anybody," said reigning champion Scott Dixon, who won last year's race at RIR and will start sixth. "It's going to be very hard. I don't think it's very good, to be honest. The racing is going to be a little harder."

"Qualifying was very difficult," said Dan Wheldon, who has won two poles this season but will start 20th Saturday. "The car was really loose, and around here, that makes it very difficult to drive. This puts us in a tough spot because it is very difficult to overtake here."