Franchitti takes pole for Sao Paulo race

Dario Franchitti will begin the defense of his IndyCar Series title from the perfect position after taking pole for the opening round of the 2010 championship on the Sao Paulo street circuit. The Scot ended the Firestone Fast Six shoot-out relatively unchallenged after an early battle for the top spot with Penske's Will Power, and took the pole for Target Chip Ganassi Racing with a 1m27.734s lap.

Power had set the pace in the top 12 run-off but couldn't match his mid-1m27s time when it counted, fading to fifth with a lap of 1m28.0156s in the final session.

The surprise of qualifying was Alex Tagliani. Making his debut for his co-owned FAZZT team, the Canadian was second fastest with a stunning lap on a set of red-walled soft Bridgestones late in the session. Tagliani's time was good enough to withstand a late-flier from Justin Wilson's Dreyer & Reinbold third-placed machine, the Briton bumping Ryan Hunter-Reay down to fourth for Andretti Autosport with a lurid final lap. Hunter-Reay's teammate Tony Kanaan will join Power on the third row.

Former champion Scott Dixon was one of several drivers to miss out on a shot at the top-six session after Simona de Silvestro crashed at the end of the top 12 shoot-out. That session proved to be a bit of a lottery as the track, which underwent diamond-grinding work overnight to improve the grip levels and bumps, rapidly improved. Lap-by-lap, it seemed, everybody produced a faster time. So it was unfortunate for the likes of Dixon, Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves and former Formula 1 driver Takuma Sato, who all missed the opportunity of one final crack at the top six.

De Silvestro, who, other than the accident has had an impressive debut IndyCar weekend, will line up 11th ahead of Raphael Matos, who bumped Danica Patrick out of the top 12 run-off.

Another driver unlucky not to make it through was Mike Conway. The Briton clearly had the pace to reach the final stages, but a late accident in the first session, brought out a full-course yellow and wiped away his time, leaving the Dreyer & Reinbold driver 21st on the grid.