Scott Dixon claimed his first pole of season, winning the Marlboro Pole Award for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma. Dixon recorded a time of 1 minute, 17.0344 seconds, 107.484 mph. It was the sixth IndyCar Series pole position of Dixon’s career and his first on a non-oval race course.

Dixon will be joined on the front row by IndyCar Series rookie Marco Andretti, who topped the single-lap qualifying (106.831; 1:17.5054). It is the highest starting position for Andretti, who moved to second during the Firestone Fast Six with a lap of 107.417 mph (1:17.0830) late in the session.

Helio Castroneves, seven points shy of Hornish in the standings, will start third (107.236; 1:17.2127) in the No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone. He was second quick in single-lap qualifying. Tony Kanaan, who won the inaugural race last year, will start fourth (107.209; 1:17.2320) in the No. 11 Team 7-Eleven Dallara/Honda/Firestone. Andretti Green Racing teammate Dario Franchitti (107.130; 1:17.2893) will start fifth in the No. 27 Klein Tools/Canadian Club car. Point leader Sam Hornish Jr. qualified 10th in the No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone.

Also Aug. 26, pole sitter Wade Cunningham held off Alex Lloyd by 0.6018 of a second in the Indy Pro Series’ Carneros 100, posting his second victory of the season. Nick Bussell finished third in the No. 52 Cheever Racing car, and Jonathan Klein was fourth in the No. 27 Klein Tools car.

Series point leader Jay Howard spun after contact with title rival Bobby Wilson on lap 11. Howard’s point lead was cut to 13 points over Klein. Cunningham and Wilson are tied for fourth, 29 points back.

Qualifying Saturday for the Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma IRL IndyCar Series event on the 2.3-mile Infineon Raceway, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine and speed:

1. (9) Scott Dixon, Panoz-Honda, 107.484
2. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 107.417
3. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 107.236
4. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 107.209
5. (27) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 107.130
6. (10) Dan Wheldon, Panoz-Honda, 106.708
7. (5) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 105.800
8. (4) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 105.746
9. (7) Bryan Herta, Dallara-Honda, 105.678
10. (6) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Honda, 105.352
11. (16) Danica Patrick, Panoz-Honda, 104.772
12. (15) Buddy Rice, Panoz-Honda, 104.529
13. (55) Kosuke Matsuura, Dallara-Honda, 104.490
14. (17) Jeff Simmons, Panoz-Honda, 104.068
15. (14) Jeff Bucknum, Dallara-Honda, 103.376
16. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 103.065
17. (8) Scott Sharp, Panoz-Honda, 101.397
18. (2) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, no speed

POST-MARLBORO POLE QUALIFYING QUOTES:

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz/Honda/Firestone, Marlboro Pole Award winner): “This weekend, we’ve been trying to put as much presure on both Penske cars. So far, we’ve done what we’ve needed to do. The car felt decent all weekend, but in some ways we were lucky to get the pole. We put in just enough fuel for about five laps in the final session, and we didn’t have time to get more than that. This is a hard place to pass and it’s hard to get a good run, so it’s super important to start up front at this place. I think we could have gone a lot quicker on the single lap but I just tried to get into the top 6.I did what I needed to do during the final session with the six cars.”

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 NYSE Group Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified second): “It’s going to be a long day tomorrow, as all of these drivers know. This place is about track position and fortunately we have that now. We just have to keep it. Never count out any of these guys. They’re IndyCar drivers for a reason. I knew we had a car to be in (the Firestone Fast Six). We actually went in the shootout with a little more fuel than we should have. That could have been the difference.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified third): “We’ve been happy with the Marlboro Team Penske car all weekend, and we thought we had a good shot at winning the pole. But when we got out there it seemed like the track had changed, and we were having some problems with the carousel. We’ll take third, though and hope to move up tomorrow. I think we have a good race car, so hopefully we’ll have a clean race and continue our pursuit of a Championship.”

DAN WHELDON (No 10. Target Chip Ganassi Racing Panoz/Honda/Firestone, qualified sixth): “We would have liked to have moved up a bit in the top 6 but it’s a reasonable starting position. It’s great for the Target team to be starting from the pole with Scott Dixon. It’s all about us putting the pressure on the Penskes here and getting as many points as we can. Strategy will be really important here to move us up and the pit stops take on more importance than usual. We’ll be looking for every opportunity to make up some ground on the track and in the points.”

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 5 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified seventh): “I tell you what, that was a huge goal for today to get in the top-10. We have sort of been struggling a bit in practice and loosing our balance. That qualifying run wasn’t perfect but I put in a pretty good lap—best we’ve had so far this weekend. If we could have gotten in the top-six, that would have been so good for us. It’s always great come back to a road course and especially in an IndyCar. They are fantastic cars to race around this track. I’m having a great time here. My goal was to try and make it to the top-six but we’re making strides.”

VITOR MEIRA (No. 4 Lincoln Tech Panther Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified eighth): “Our qualification run was good. I think we still need to step it up a little as far as qualifications go, but we are still happy. We wanted to make the Firestone Fast Six, but the key thing is how our racecar performs tomorrow. I know that the car will be good like it has been in practice, and (Race Engineer) Bill Pappas and (Team Owner) John Barnes always make great improvements to the Lincoln Tech Honda. We’re excited to get back out there for the race.”

SAM HORNISH, JR. (No. 6 Marlboro Team Penske Dallara/Honda/Firestone, qualified tenth): “We’re not very happy with our qualifying run, but fortunately today’s not the day that counts. The car was a little loose out there. Tomorrow’s the day that matters, so we just have to focus and make sure we stay out of trouble. It’s a long race and hopefully we’ll be able to put the Marlboro Team Penske car near the front.”

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