Qualifying: Kanaan takes another pole

The pole was the second for Kanaan, who also started at the front for the season opener three weeks ago at Homestead-Miami Speedway. This lap, a foot-to-the-floor effort that knocked Felipe Giaffone off the top spot, was the only one in two days of practice and qualifying that reached into the 178 mph range.

"I never thought I would say this, but the lap was flat out," Kanaan said. "I don't know how I could have gone any quicker. It was just awesome. A lap like this one will stay on my mind for a long time. It was a good lap."

Driving a Honda-powered Dallara, Kanaan topped three Toyotas. Giaffone put Mo Nunn Racing's Toyota-G Force in the front row with a lap of 177.766 mph, while Scott Dixon followed his opening win at Homestead by placing the Target Chip Ganassi Racing Toyota-G Force inside the second row.

Helio Castroneves will start next to Dixon, followed by Michael Andretti, Kenny Brack, Gil de Ferran and Tomas Scheckter. Toyota and Honda swept the top 11 positions; the fastest Chevrolet - Jaques Lazier's - was more than half a second and 4 mph behind Kanaan.

About the only surprise of qualifying was Brack's drop-off. He had the fastest car on the track in Friday's practice sessions and Saturday morning's session, but he faltered to sixth at 176.660 mph during the qualifying session.
"The conditions do change from the morning, and I think that's what happened here," Brack said. "It takes in the temperature and the wind. If you look at the grid, it's just a couple of hundredths between the cars. It's very close."