Texas IndyCar: Chip Ganassi's Charlie Kimball takes lap record pole

Kimball, runner-up in the delayed and shortened opening practice session to Dixon, set an aggregate time in his two-lap run of 46.586s - beating Will Power's 2013 record of 47.796s - and hitting an average speed of 222.2556mph to secure pole.

Practice pacesetter Dixon just missed out with an average speed of 222.516mph, while the aggregate time for his run was 46.594s.

Andretti's Alexander Rossi was third after a strong 222.442mph run (46.610s aggregate time) and Tony Kanaan was next up, making it three Chip Ganassi cars in the top four. The Brazilian was the last of the drivers with an average speed over 222mph.

Tristan Vautier - replacing Esteban Gutierrez in the No.18 Dale Coyne Racing car - made the most of his late slot in the running order, decided by a blind draw, to go fifth.

Former Formula 1 driver Max Chilton was sixth fastest, ahead of Mikhail Aleshin and this year's Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato - who had a 221.458mph run and aggregate time of 46.817s.

The qualifying hour at the recently resurfaced and reprofiled Texas track was dominated by Honda power, with the top eight drivers running the Japanese manufacturer's engine.

Penske duo Will Power and Helio Castroneves qualified ninth and 10th, the lead Chevrolets, while their team-mates Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden found themselves 12th and 17th.

Graham Rahal, who took victory in both Detroit races last weekend, was 11th and Ryan Hunter-Reay 13th, both appearing early in the running order.

Carlos Munoz did not take part in qualifying and will start from last place in Saturday's race at the Texas track.

QUALIFYING RESULTS