Brazil’s Helio Castroneves has edged Australian Will Power to capture the pole for Sunday’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 by winning the last of three 50-lap heat races on Saturday that determined the starting grid.
Castroneves led every lap in the final showdown to determine the top 10 starting positions, defeating Penske Racing teammate Power by 3.1480 seconds to collect nine bonus points in the driver’s championship fight.
The South American stretched his season points lead to 308-283 over 2012 season points champion Ryan Hunter-Reay of the United States, the defending Iowa race champion who won last week’s IndyCar race at Milwaukee.
Canada’s James Hinchcliffe will start third alongside teammate Marco Andretti with New Zealand’s Scott Dixon fifth in the lineup for the 250-lap feature over the .875-mile oval course.
Castroneves led six drivers who qualified into the final heat. Other racers drove again in heat one to decide odd-numbered grid spots starting with 11th or heat two for even-numbered grid positions starting at 12th, with the top two from each preliminary heat advancing into the 10-car finale.
In the opening qualifying round, Castroneves set a one-lap track record of 17.3324 seconds (185.687 mph), breaking the mark of 17.4908 set by Australian Ryan Briscoe in the 2008 race. Dixon held the old qualifying mark of 17.6468.