KV Racing's Tony Kanaan earned the last pole of the year by upstaging all the contenders during qualifications for the IZOD IndyCar Series' grand finale in Las Vegas.
Oriol Servia (Newman-Haas Racing), who had been quick all thru the practice sessions, looked as though he would be the fastest driver until Kanaan beat him by only a mere 0.0019 seconds over two laps. For the Brazilian, it was a first pole since 2008. Once again, Ed Carpenter was clearly among the leaders for Sarah Fisher Racing with a third spot on the grid following his shock victory in Kentucky a couple of weeks ago. For Canadian Alex Tagliani, qualifications could have been much more difficult, since he had to drive on an oval, a car set-up for road courses. However he took things in stride and finished 4th for Bryan Herta Autosport. Penske's Ryan Briscoe completed the top 5. Championship rivals Will Power and Dario Franchitti will start back on row nine, both complaining of a general lack of speed from their cars. Rivals in the Rookie of the year running, James Hinchcliffe (Newman/Haas) and JR Hildebrand (Panther) finished respectively 14th and 15th. Veteran Paul Tracy (Dragon Racing) lacked pace once more, and will start 27th while Dan Wheldon, sole rider in the GoDaddy.com $5 million challenge, was 29th quickest for Sam Schmidt. Qualifying results – IndyCar World Championship (Las Vegas) 1. Tony Kanaan (KV) 222.078 2. Oriol Servia (Newman/Haas) 222.061 3. Ed Carpenter (Sarah Fisher) 221.509 4. Alex Tagliani (Bryan Herta) 221.330 5. Ryan Briscoe (Penske) 221.130 6. Marco Andretti (Andretti) 221.129 7. Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti) 221.040 8. Graham Rahal (Ganassi) 220.958 9. Danica Patrick (Andretti) 220.925 10. Mike Conway (Andretti) 220.922 11. Helio Castroneves (Penske) 220.907 12. Wade Cunningham (AFS/Sam Schmidt) 220.790 13. Scott Dixon (Ganassi) 220.715 14. James Hinchcliffe (Newman/Haas) 220.701 15. JR Hildebrand (Panther) 220.639 16. Takuma Sato (KV) 220.627 17. Will Power (Penske) 220.524 18. Dario Franchitti (Ganassi) 220.489 19. Buddy Rice (Panther) 220.392* 20. Sebastian Saavedra (Conquest) 220.335 21. Alex Lloyd Dale (Coyne) 220.314 22. Charlie Kimball (Ganassi) 219.982 23. Townsend Bell (Dreyer & Reinbold) 219.942 24. Tomas Scheckter (Sarah Fisher) 219.816 25. Davey Hamilton (Dreyer & Reinbold) 219.493 26. Vitor Meira (AJ Foyt) 219.273 27. Paul Tracy (Dragon) 218.661 28. Jay Howard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) 218.577 29. Dan Wheldon (Sam Schmidt) 218.410 30. Pippa Mann Rahal (Letterman Lanigan) 218.157 31. Ana Beatriz (Dreyer & Reinbold) 219.153 32. Simona de Silvestro (HVM) 218.132 33. EJ Viso (KV) 34. James Jakes (Dale Coyne) * Will start from the back of the grid following penalty
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