Scott Dixon edges Will Power for Detroit IndyCar pole

The top spot oscillated between Dixon and Power with every lap over the final few minutes, with Ganassi's Dixon waiting until his final lap to post a 1m10.3162s. Power had one lap left to topple the New Zealander but the Penske driver fell short by just 0.0044 seconds.

Alex Tagliani secured the third place on the grid with a great performance in the Bryan Herta Autosport entry, with Schmidt Hamilton's Simon Pagenaud fourth. KV Racing's EJ Viso and Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top six.

Ryan Briscoe believed that he cost himself a spot in the Fast Six when he glanced the wall late in the second qualifying phase and damaged his left-rear suspension. The Indianapolis 500 polesitter ended up eighth for Penske, behind Ganassi's Graham Rahal, who along with Simona de Silvestro (HVM) has a 10-place grid penalty carried over from Long Beach.

Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti (Ganassi) was a shock casualty of the first qualifying segment; the Scot being eliminated after struggling badly with slower traffic. Andretti Autosport's Marco Andretti was another early exit as a consequence of going the wrong way with his set-up, leaving him with a car that he described as "way too loose."

Pos  Driver               Team/Car                Time        Gap
 1.  Scott Dixon          Ganassi DW12-Honda      1m10.3162s
 2.  Will Power           Penske DW12-Chevy       1m10.3206s  + 0.0044s
 3.  Alex Tagliani        Herta DW12-Honda        1m10.6684s  + 0.3522s
 4.  Simon Pagenaud       Schmidt DW12-Honda      1m10.8426s  + 0.5264s
 5.  EJ Viso              KV DW12-Chevy           1m11.0852s  + 0.7690s
 6.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti DW12-Chevy     1m11.4557s  + 1.1395s
 7.  Graham Rahal*        Ganassi DW12-Honda      1m10.9434s  Round 2
 8.  Ryan Briscoe         Penske DW12-Chevy       1m10.9964s  Round 2
 9.  Helio Castroneves    Penske DW12-Chevy       1m11.0076s  Round 2
10.  Sebastien Bourdais   Dragon DW12-Chevy       1m11.1624s  Round 2
11.  Justin Wilson        Dale Coyne DW12-Honda   1m11.3376s  Round 2
12.  Takuma Sato          Rahal DW12-Honda        1m11.8122s  Round 2
13.  Josef Newgarden      Fisher DW12-Honda       1m12.1068s  Group 1
14.  James Hinchcliffe    Andretti DW12-Chevy     1m11.6519s  Group 2
15.  Dario Franchitti     Ganassi DW12-Honda      1m12.3276s  Group 1
16.  Mike Conway          Foyt DW12-Honda         1m11.6521s  Group 2
17.  Oriol Servia         Panther/DRR DW12-Chevy  1m12.5754s  Group 1
18.  Tony Kanaan          KV DW12-Chevy           1m11.8080s  Group 2
19.  JR Hildebrand        Panther DW12-Chevy      1m12.5835s  Group 1
20.  Rubens Barrichello   KV DW12-Chevy           1m12.4052s  Group 2
21.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi DW12-Honda      1m12.5844s  Group 1
22.  Simona de Silvestro* HVM DW12-Lotus          1m12.6014s  Group 2
23.  Ed Carpenter         Carpenter DW12-Chevy    1m14.8816s  Group 1
24.  Marco Andretti       Andretti DW12-Chevy     1m12.6531s  Group 2
25.  James Jakes          Dale Coyne DW12-Honda   1m12.8469s  Group 2

* Will be demoted 10 places on grid due to penalty