Helio Castroneves will start on the pole for the IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach after setting a track record during qualifying.

Castroneves, the 2001 champion at Long Beach, had a time of one minute, 0.66294 seconds around the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit on Saturday (Sunday AEST).

His lap during the Fast Six stage of knockout qualifying eclipsed the record of 1:00.882 set by Sebastien Bourdais at a Champ Car race in 2006.

Juan Pablo Montoya finished just behind Castroneves, giving Team Penske the first two spots for Sunday’s 80-mile race through the streets of downtown Long Beach.

Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing qualified third, with Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, Penske’s Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden of CFH Racing rounding out the top six.

Australia’s reigning IndyCar champion Will Power was 18th.