Will Power has claimed his seventh pole position of the IZOD IndyCar Series grabbing the top spot at the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix.
Graham Rahal was the provisional pole sitter three and-a-half minutes remaining, but that was more than enough time in the Firestone Fast Six for Power to come through a claim top spot.
Power, who was just 0.0081 of-a-second behind, recorded the quickest lap of 1:20.2447 on his fifth and final lap of the 10-minute session to earn his 23rd career pole and tying Johnny Rutherford on the all-time list.
“The final run was absolutely everything I had in me and it was exhausting,” said Power, who is 25 points behind championship front-runner Dario Franchitti entering the 75-lap race.
“I think that securing the pole position is an advantage here because you don’t have to worry about trying to pass, and since it is a street circuit there can be a lot of yellows.
“We are going to try to lead as many laps as we can and gain the points we need for the championship. We have to keep chipping away at it.”
Fellow Aussie and Penske Racing team-mate Ryan Briscoe will share the second row with the championship leader (Franchitti), while Sebastien Bourdais and Ryan Hunter-Reay will be on the third row. It was Bourdais’ and Dale Coyne Racing’s first visit to the Firestone Fast Six this season.
The top six were separated by 0.7648 of a second on the 2-mile, 12-turn course.
Helio Castroneves and Mike Conway will be on Row 4, with E.J. Viso and Scott Dixon occupying the fifth row.
QUALIFYING: Baltimore Indy Garnd Prix
| Pos | Driver | Origin | Sponsor | Team | Time | MPH |
| 1 | Will Power | Toowoomba : Queensland | Team Verizon | Team Penske | 1:20.2447 | 91.520 |
| 2 | Graham Rahal | New Albany : Ohio | Service Central | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:20.3238 | 91.430 |
| 3 | Ryan Briscoe | Sydney : New South Wales | Guidepoint Systems | Team Penske | 1:20.7023 | 91.001 |
| 4 | Dario Franchitti | Edinburgh : Scotland | Kellogg’s Target | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:20.7118 | 90.990 |
| 5 | Sebastien Bourdais | Le Mans : France | Boy Scouts of America | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:20.9725 | 90.697 |
| 6 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Fort Lauderdale : Florida | DHL/Circle K/Sun Drop Citrus Soda | Andretti Autosport | 1:21.0095 | 90.656 |
| 7 | Helio Castroneves | Sao Paulo : Brazil | Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra | Team Penske | 1:20.8503 | 90.835 |
| 8 | Mike Conway | Bromley : England | Buffalo Wild Wings | Andretti Autosport | 1:20.9078 | 90.770 |
| 9 | E.J. Viso | Caracas : Venezuela | PDVSA-KV | Lotus KV Racing Technology – Lotus | 1:20.9416 | 90.732 |
| 10 | Scott Dixon | Auckland : New Zealand | Target | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:21.0617 | 90.598 |
| 11 | Tony Kanaan | Salvador : Brazil | GEICO-KV | Lotus KV Racing Technology – Lotus | 1:21.3764 | 90.247 |
| 12 | Simona De Silvestro | Thun : Switzerland | Nuclear Clean Air Energy | HVM Racing | 1:21.7382 | 89.848 |
| 13 | James Jakes (R) | Leeds : England | Acorn Stairlifts | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:21.6046 | 89.995 |
| 14 | Vitor Meira | Brasilia : Brazil | ABC Supply Co. | A.J. Foyt Racing | 1:21.9707 | 89.593 |
| 15 | Giorgio Pantano (R) | Padua : Italy | RollCoater | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | 1:21.6857 | 89.906 |
| 16 | Oriol Servia | Pals : Spain | Telemundo | Newman/Haas Racing | 1:21.9856 | 89.577 |
| 17 | James Hinchcliffe (R) | Toronto : Canada | Sprott | Newman/Haas Racing | 1:21.7882 | 89.793 |
| 18 | Charlie Kimball (R) | Camarillo : California | Levemir and NovoLog Flex Pen Novo Nordisk | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:22.3963 | 89.130 |
| 19 | JR Hildebrand (R) | Sausalito : California | National Guard Panther Racing | Panther Racing | 1:22.0232 | 89.536 |
| 20 | Martin Plowman (R) | Tamworth : England | Snowball Express/AFS | Sam Schmidt Motorsports | 1:22.5638 | 88.949 |
| 21 | Alex Tagliani | Lachenaie : Quebec | Bowers & Wilkins | Sam Schmidt Motorsports | 1:22.1596 | 89.387 |
| 22 | Ana Beatriz (R) | Sao Paulo : Brazil | Ipiranga | Dreyer & Reinbold Racing | 1:22.9070 | 88.581 |
| 23 | Marco Andretti | Nazareth : Pennsylvania | All Natural Snapple | Andretti Autosport | 1:22.8926 | 88.597 |
| 24 | Tomas Scheckter | Cape Town : South Africa | REDLINE Extreme | SH Racing/DRR | 1:22.9769 | 88.507 |
| 25 | Danica Patrick | Roscoe : Illinois | GoDaddy | Andretti Autosport | 1:23.0159 | 88.465 |
| 26 | Sebastian Saavedra (R) | Bogata : Colombia | Bogata Es Mundial | Conquest Racing | 1:23.4736 | 87.980 |
| 27 | Ed Carpenter | Indianapolis : Indiana | Dollar General | Sarah Fisher Racing | 1:24.5361 | 86.874 |
| 28 | Takuma Sato | Tokyo : Japan | KV Racing Technology – Lotus | KV Racing Technology – Lotus | 1:25.3139 | 86.082 |
VIDEO: Firestone Fast Six
