Franchitti wins IndyCar Series pole position in Toronto

Dario Franchitti is on the pole for Sunday’s Honda Indy Toronto, but that’s about the only normal thing that happened in qualifying.

See if you imagined this top six: Franchitti, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Justin Wilson, Alex Tagliani and Mike Conway. Notice: No full-time Team Penske drivers and no Scott Dixon, the points leader.

Also: No Andretti Green Racing drivers among the top 16. Yes, 16.

Marco Andretti starts 17th, Danica Patrick 18th, Tony Kanaan 20th and Hideki Mutoh 22nd. Remember, this event is hosted by Andretti Green Promotions.

A crowd of at least 70,000 is expected Sunday. The race begins shortly after 1 p.m.

Franchitti won the final shootout with a lap of 1 minute, 1.02 seconds, earning his third pole of the season for Ganassi Racing.

Power is bidding for yet another remarkable weekend in his part-time role with Roger Penske’s team. He finished sixth at St. Petersburg, Fla., as Helio Castroneves’ stand-in and then second (Long Beach) and fifth (Indianapolis) as the driver of the No. 12 car. He has not competed with the team since Indy.

Wilson is happy to start fourth, a position he thinks he can snare his second consecutive win from. He won the first race for Dale Coyne Racing last week at Watkins Glen International.

Saturday’s qualifying session was picturesque on the 1.755-mile, 11-turn street circuit. But the course was a mess in the morning as thunderstorms, including lightning, passed through. Practice was limited to about a half-hour. Kanaan and Andretti were among those to spin in the wet.

Sebastian Saavedra won the Firestone Indy Lights race, his second of the season.

GRID

Pos., Car No., Driver, Chassis-Engine, Time, Speed (mph)

1. (10) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.0249 (103.532)

2. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.2851 (103.092)

3. (02) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.3301 (103.016)

4. (18) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.5157 (102.705)

5. (34) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.6980 (102.402)

6. (24) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 1:02.0090 (101.888)

7. (06) Robert Doornbos, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.4419 (102.829)

8. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.4718 (102.779)

9. (2) Raphael Matos, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.5348 (102.674)

10. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.7954 (102.241)

11. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.8575 (102.138)

12. (14) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.9680 (101.956)

13. (5) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.9704 (101.952)

14. (23) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.8681 (102.120)

15. (15) Paul Tracy, Dallara-Honda, 1:01.9730 (101.948)

16. (13) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 1:02.1577 (101.645)

17. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 1:02.2138 (101.553)

18. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 1:02.5839 (100.952)

19. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 1:02.5907 (100.942)

20. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 1:02.6556 (100.837)

21. (4) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 1:02.8411 (100.539)

22. (27) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 1:03.0413 (100.220)

23. (98) Richard Antinucci, Dallara-Honda, 1:04.5132 (97.933)

source: autoweek