Josef Newgarden has qualified on pole for the Honda Indy Toronto after mastering the wet-dry conditions in Exhibition Place.
Newgarden denied Friday pace-setter Scott Dixon top spot on the starting grid, while Simon Pagenaud and Will Power made for a Team Penske one-three-four.
Rain left the Toronto streets wet for the start of qualifying but the circuit had dried enough by the time Round 2 took place that Dixon broke the outright lap record with a 58.5546s.
Sprinkling rain for the Firestone Fast Six saw the pace fall away again, with Newgarden taking the #1 Team Penske Chevrolet to the top with a 59.4956s at the very end.
Dixon was 0.1964s slower after a moment on a wet patch in the #9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
“I’m a bit disappointed at myself for not putting the PNC Bank car on pole position,” said Dixon.
Secure your spot today.
“I feel bad for my team as well, as they gave me a car capable of doing it. I made a mistake in Turn 5 and that cost me a few tenths.
“All in all, it’s not terrible starting on the front row, but when you know you had one and then let it get away, it hurts a little bit.”
Behind the Row 2 Team Penske lockout of Pagenaud (#22 Chevrolet) and Power (#12 Chevrolet) is a Row 3 Andretti Autosport lockout of Alexander Rossi (#27 Honda) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (#28 Honda).
Takuma Sato (#30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda), Jordan King (#20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet), James Hinchcliffe (#5 Schmidt Peterson Honda), and Robert Wickens (#6 Schmidt Peterson Honda), rounded out the top 10.
Conor Daly, who is driving the #88 Harding Racing Chevrolet in place of Gabby Chaves what the team says is a trial for a potential second car in 2019, ended up 11th.
Other notables were Marco Andretti (#98 Andretti-Herta w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda) in 14th and Sebastien Bourdais (#18 DCR w/ Vasser-Sullivan Honda) in 17th.
The 12th race of the Verizon IndyCar Series, to be run over 85 laps, starts at 0535 AEST.
Highlights: Qualifying
Starting grid: Toronto
| Pos | Num | Driver | C/E/T | Time | Session |
| 1 | 1 | Josef Newgarden | D/C/F | 59.4956 | Fast Six |
| 2 | 9 | Scott Dixon | D/H/F | 59.6920 | Fast Six |
| 3 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | D/C/F | 59.7630 | Fast Six |
| 4 | 12 | Will Power | D/C/F | 59.8818 | Fast Six |
| 5 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | D/H/F | 1:00.6273 | Fast Six |
| 6 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | D/H/F | 1:00.6615 | Fast Six |
| 7 | 30 | Takuma Sato | D/H/F | 59.0712 | Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 8 | 20 | Jordan King (R) | D/C/F | 59.0862 | Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 9 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | D/H/F | 59.1581 | Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 10 | 6 | Robert Wickens (R) | D/H/F | 59.1705 | Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 11 | 88 | Conor Daly | D/C/F | 59.3133 | Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 12 | 4 | Matheus Leist (R) | D/C/F | 59.4528 | Round 2 / Top 12 |
| 13 | 15 | Graham Rahal | D/H/F | 1:14.7769 | Round 1 / Group 1 |
| 14 | 98 | Marco Andretti | D/H/F | 1:00.1721 | Round 1 / Group 2 |
| 15 | 14 | Tony Kanaan | D/C/F | 1:14.9691 | Round 1 / Group 1 |
| 16 | 21 | Spencer Pigot | D/C/F | 1:00.1838 | Round 1 / Group 2 |
| 17 | 18 | Sebastien Bourdais | D/H/F | 1:15.1429 | Round 1 / Group 1 |
| 18 | 59 | Max Chilton | D/C/F | 1:00.2694 | Round 1 / Group 2 |
| 19 | 32 | Rene Binder (R) | D/C/F | 1:15.8928 | Round 1 / Group 1 |
| 20 | 23 | Charlie Kimball | D/C/F | 1:00.4313 | Round 1 / Group 2 |
| 21 | 10 | Ed Jones | D/H/F | No Time | Round 1 / Group 1 |
| 22 | 26 | Zach Veach (R) | D/H/F | 1:00.5564 | Round 1 / Group 2 |
| 23 | 19 | Zachary Claman DeMelo (R) | D/H/F | 1:00.6416 | Round 1 / Group 2 |
(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)yre: F=Firestone
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