Scotland’s Dario Franchitti topped qualifying on Friday for Saturday’s first race in IndyCar’s weekend double-header at Detroit.

Franchitti’s best lap of 1min 19.331sec on the 3.77 kilometre, 13-turn street circuit was enough to see him credited with his 31st IndyCar series pole position, with the championship point and cash prize that comes with it.

What Franchitti won’t enjoy, however, is the top spot on the starting grid, on which he’ll start 11th because of a penalty incurred for an unapproved engine change at Indianapolis.

E.J. Viso was second (1:19.557) in the Team Venezuela car for Andretti Autosport to tie his series-best qualifying effort in Brazil in May.

England’s Mike Conway qualified third, ahead of James Jakes and reigning IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay.

The weekend’s two races will mark the first time that IndyCar has held two full-length races at a venue on the same weekend. The street circuits in Toronto and Houston also will host double-headers this season.

“I think it’s going to be extremely brutal on the drivers,” said Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan of Brazil.

“One race is hard enough. Two in a weekend is going to be extremely tough.”

If a driver wins both Saturday’s and Sunday’s races, it will be worth a $US50,000 bonus.

If no one wins both races, the prize fund carries over to the double-header at Toronto, and if the bonus isn’t claimed there to Houston.

Qualifying for Sunday’s race will be held six hours before the start of race one on Saturday.