Dixon beats Wheldon to Indy pole

Wheldon had held provisional pole for much of the early afternoon, before being beaten by Dixon and Penske's Ryan Briscoe with just over two hours to go.

Dixon had withdrawn his record-setting first run to regain the pole position, then withstood the challenge from Wheldon, who himself withdrew a front row spot as the final minutes ticked away. In the end, Dixon unflappably handled the drama to win the pole for the 92nd running of the Indy 500.

"I was really worried about my teammate," Dixon said. "We knew how hard they had been working all afternoon.

"I think for once we just went at the right time, because the wind changed and there was a really bad cross-wind. Other than that, the two cars have been so similar."

It marked the first Indy pole by Ganassi's team since Bruno Junqueira won it in 2002.

"On days like today, it's a real tribute to the team," Ganassi said. "It's the hard work that nobody realises is happening in October, November and December. I can't tell you how hard these guys worked in the off-season."

Wheldon withdrew his third place starting position with 21 minutes left in the session to challenge Dixon for the pole. The 2005 champion's first lap was faster than Dixon's four-lap average, but the ensuing three laps dropped his average just below his teammate's speed.

However, Wheldon's effort was fast enough to move him past Briscoe and into second place on the starting grid.

"I think it's a great effort," said Wheldon. "To be one and two is an impressive feat. Yeah, I'm disappointed, but the biggest thing is to be happy for the team because they did a good job."

Double Indianapolis winner Helio Castroneves claimed fourth behind his Penske teammate Briscoe, and ahead of Andretti-Green trio Danica Patrick, Tony Kanaan and Marco Andretti. Their teammate Hideki Mutoh was the only rookie to make the top 11, qualifying ninth behind Vitor Meira (Panther Racing).

Vision Racing's Ed Carpenter and Tomas Scheckter (Luczo Dragon Racing) were the final day one qualifiers.

None of the Champ Car converts made it into the field today, although Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver Graham Rahal held a provisional 11th position for much of the session before being pushed back when Mutoh - who had his original qualifying run disallowed because he had inadvertently run underweight - got a lap on the board in the last hour.

Other notable drivers outside the top 11 included Ryan Hunter-Reay and Carpenter's teammate AJ Foyt IV. The latter had to abandon his run after a warm-up lap spin, while Hunter-Reay put his Rahal-Letterman Dallara-Honda into the Turn 3 wall but escaped injury.

Although 32 drivers took part in morning practice, only 17 chose to make official qualifying attempts today, with many saving their equipment for tomorrow's qualifying session, when positions 12th to 22nd will be settled.

Day one qualifiers:

Pos  Driver             Team            Speed
 1.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi         226.366
 2.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi         226.110
 3.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske          226.080
 4.  Helio Castroneves  Penske          225.733
 5.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green  225.197
 6.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green  224.799
 7.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green  224.417
 8.  Vitor Meira        Panther         224.346
 9.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green  223.887
10.  Ed Carpenter       Vision          223.835
11.  Tomas Scheckter    Luczo Dragon    223.496