Will Power led a Penske 1-2-3 sweep of qualifying for Sunday's IZOD IndyCar Series Indy Grand Prix at Sonoma at Infineon Raceway.

The Australian captured his sixth pole of the season (all on road or street courses), second consecutive at Sonoma and first since Toronto early in July.

“I think the key was minimal laps in the first two rounds,” Power said. “We knew we had some work to do, testing was worthwhile. That's what we need more of and what we're heading toward.”

Power dropped the hammer on his teammates, with a fastest lap of 1:18.6017 more than four tenths quicker than Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, each in the low 1:19-second range. Castroneves equals his best starting position of the year, previously achieved at the one-mile oval in Milwaukee.

“I knew what I had to do, and especially with old tires the car seemed better than on new tires,” Castroneves said.

Following the Penske trio, Target Chip Ganassi Racing pilots Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon completed the top five on the grid. The same five drivers finished in the top five positions in last year's Sonoma race and seem primed to do likewise in 2011.

All five drivers needed minimal laps to maximize their times. Power said the softer Firestone red tires netted roughly one second per lap around the 2.303-mile circuit, and they showed what they could do in the morning practice session when Martin Plowman topped the times with a set of reds.

“The red tires are the reason we went so fast, they gained basically a second,” Power said.

The only one separating themselves from the dominance of the series' two power teams was Canadian rookie James Hinchcliffe of Newman/Haas Racing, who lines up sixth. After leading 26 laps at Mid-Ohio, Hinchcliffe eclipsed his previous best start of seventh set at Mid-Ohio.

Missing out of the Firestone Fast Six but still registering top ten starts were Mike Conway (Andretti Autosport), Sebastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing), E.J. Viso (KV Racing Technology-Lotus) and Ana Beatriz (Dreyer & Reinbold Racing).

Viso has consistently been quickest of the three KVRT entries this weekend; Tony Kanaan is mired in 21st in his first race with John Dick as engineer. Meanwhile Beatriz secures both her best start and first top ten start in IndyCar to date. She out-qualified new teammate Giorgio Pantano by one position; the Italian slots in 11th.

Others of note: Plowman (15th) and James Jakes (17th) also secure career best starting positions, Loudon protagonists Oriol Servia and Ryan Hunter-Reay line up right behind each other in 18th and 19th, Simon Pagenaud made it to 22nd in the HVM Racing entry while Ho-Pin Tung makes his IndyCar debut from 24th.

Pos  Driver               Team               Time        Gap

 1.   Will Power           Penske             1m18.602s (Q3)
 2.   Helio Castroneves    Penske             1m19.092s (Q3) + 0.490s
 3.   Ryan Briscoe         Penske             1m19.111s (Q3) + 0.505s
 4.   Dario Franchitti     Ganassi            1m19.164s (Q3) + 0.545s
 5.   Scott Dixon          Ganassi            1m19.389s (Q3) + 0.788s
 6.   James Hinchcliffe    Newman/Haas        1m19.545s (Q3) + 0.853s
 7.   Mike Conway          Andretti           1m18.939s (Q2) + 0.337s
 8.   Sebastien Bourdais   Dale Coyne         1m18.971s (Q2) + 0.370s
 9.   Ernesto Viso         KV                 1m19.072s (Q2) + 0.471s
 10.  Ana Beatriz          Dreyer & Reinbold  1m19.110s (Q2) + 0.508s
 11.  Giorgio Pantano      Dreyer & Reinbold  1m19.241s (Q2) + 0.640s
 12.  Alex Tagliani        Sam Schmidt        1m19.803s (Q2) + 1.202s
 13.  Graham Rahal         Ganassi            1m19.331s (Q1) + 0.729s
 14.  Marco Andretti       Andretti           1m19.378s (Q1) + 0.770s
 15.  Martin Plowman       AFS/Sam Schmidt    1m19.379s (Q1) + 0.776s
 16.  Takuma Sato          KV                 1m19.384s (Q1) + 0.719s
 17.  James Jakes          Dale Coyne         1m19.474s (Q1) + 0.873s
 18.  Oriol Servia         Newman/Haas        1m19.396s (Q1) + 0.739s
 19.  Ryan Hunter-Reay     Andretti           1m19.640s (Q1) + 1.039s
 20.  JR Hildebrand        Panther            1m19.465s (Q1) + 0.864s
 21.  Tony Kanaan          KV                 1m19.727s (Q1) + 1.125s
 22.  Simon Pagenaud       Dreyer & Reinbold  1m19.564s (Q1) + 0.962s
 23.  Sebastian Saavedra   Conquest           1m19.752s (Q1) + 1.150s
 24.  Ho-Pin Tung          Sam Schmidt Dragon 1m19.589s (Q1) + 0.988s
 25.  Danica Patrick       Andretti           1m19.785s (Q1) + 1.184s
 26.  Charlie Kimball      Ganassi            1m19.835s (Q1) + 1.233s
 27.  Ed Carpenter         Sarah Fisher       1m20.627s (Q1) + 2.713s
 28.  Vitor Meira          Foyt               1m20.121s (Q1) + 1.837s