Kiwi Scott Dixon has pipped Australia’s Will Power by just 0.0044 of-a-second for the pole position at the IndyCar x.
It was career pole #18 and is back-to-back poles for Dixon in Detroit, although separated by four years after the event returned to the calendar this year.
The Target Chip Ganassi Racing driver recorded a lap of 1 minute, 10.3162 seconds — a qualifying record for the 3.31km, 14-turn street circuit.
“That’s all it takes,” said Dixon.
“This has really been a team effort; we struggled coming off the truck for practice and we worked hard to get up to P1.
“I am really happy about starting up front because this is such a tough track and physically demanding on the drivers. The track is bumpy and the best place to pass is on the straights, so staring up front is very important.”
Power in the Verizon Team Penske car, will make his third front-row start in six IZOD IndyCar Series races.
“You’ve just got to be smart, see how things play out,” said Power.
“I just race the way I race, which is to win, so that means not trying to do anything stupid.”
Alex Tagliani in the Team Barracuda-BHA will share the second row with Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports’ Simon Pagenaud.
After winning last weekend’s Indianapolis 500, Dario Franchitti has come back to earth qualifying 15th.
“We didn’t really have the session we wanted,” said Franchitti.
“We have a good car and the guys made some great changes this morning so I hope we get to show it in the race.”
QUALIFYING: Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix
| Position | Driver | Team | Engine | Time |
| 1 | Scott Dixon | Ganassi | Honda | 1:10.3162 |
| 2 | Will Power | Penske | Chevrolet | 1:10.3206 |
| 3 | Alex Tagliani | Herta | Honda | 1:10.6684 |
| 4 | Simon Pagenaud | Schmidt | Honda | 1:10.8426 |
| 5 | EJ Viso | KV | Chevrolet | 1:11.0852 |
| 6 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti | Chevrolet | 1:11.4557 |
| 7 | Graham Rahal* | Ganassi | Honda | 1:10.9434 |
| 8 | Ryan Briscoe | Penske | Chevrolet | 1:10.9964 |
| 9 | Helio Castroneves | Penske | Chevrolet | 1:11.0076 |
| 10 | Sebastien Bourdais | Dragon | Chevrolet | 1:11.1624 |
| 11 | Justin Wilson | Dale Coyne | Honda | 1:11.3376 |
| 12 | Takuma Sato | Rahal | Honda | 1:11.8122 |
| 13 | Josef Newgarden | Fisher | Honda | 1:12.1068 |
| 14 | James Hinchcliffe | Andretti | Chevrolet | 1:11.6519 |
| 15 | Dario Franchitti | Ganassi | Honda | 1:12.3276 |
| 16 | Mike Conway | Foyt | Honda | 1:11.6521 |
| 17 | Oriol Servia | Panther/DRR | Chevrolet | 1:12.5754 |
| 18 | Tony Kanaan | KV | Chevrolet | 1:11.8080 |
| 19 | JR Hildebrand | Panther | Chevrolet | 1:12.5835 |
| 20 | Rubens Barrichello | KV | Chevrolet | 1:12.4052 |
| 21 | Charlie Kimball | Ganassi | Honda | 1:12.5844 |
| 22 | Simona de Silvestro* | HVM | Lotus | 1:12.6014 |
| 23 | Ed Carpenter | Carpenter | Chevrolet | 1:14.8816 |
| 24 | Marco Andretti | Andretti | Chevrolet | 1:12.6531 |
| 25 | James Jakes | Dale Coyne | Honda | 1:12.8469 |
* Will be demoted 10 places on grid due to penalty
Here is the Firestone Fast 6 from Detoit
