Marcos Ambrose and Jacques Villeneuve staged an enthralling battle for pole at Montreal today that brought the Australian yet another road course pole – and disappointed the entertainingly partisan crowd.

Villeneuve, who qualified second in his previous Nationwide outing at Road America, took his Braun Racing Toyota Camry around the track named after his father in 1m40.619s, an average speed of 96.924mph, only to see the mark eclipsed by Ambrose's JTG Daugherty Toyota on his last flying lap. That 1m40.458s (97.079mph) lap brought Ambrose his second consecutive pole at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, a track where he appeared destined to win last year until clipping a curb at the final turn allowing Carl Edwards through to victory.

Edwards, who also won at Road America this past June, again proved what an accomplished road racer he has become, but his Roush-Fenway Ford Fusion was edged out of third place by Joey Logano's remarkable performance in the Joe Gibbs Racing Camry. This comes hot on the heels of Logano's fine runnerup performance behind Ambrose in the Watkins Glen Nationwide race.

Boris Said was a deserving fifth, while Paul Menard – who also shone at Road America, put his Ford firmly in the Top 10, and ahead of championship leader Brad Keselowski (Penske Dodge).

Other road course experts expected to shine tomorrow – Max Papis, Andrew Ranger, Patrick Carpentier, Ron Fellows and Robby Gordon – all made it into the first eight rows.