Scotland’s Dario Franchitti grabbed his third straight IndyCar series pole Saturday, edging Australian Will Power in the closing seconds of qualifying for Sunday’s race on Toronto’s street circuit.

Franchitti, the three-time defending IndyCar champion and winner at Toronto last year, lapped the 2.8km, 11-turn Exhibition Place temporary circuit in 59.3510sec.

It was his third straight pole after he claimed the top qualifying spot at Milwaukee and Iowa, although he failed to finish both of those races.

Franchitti didn’t actually start in Iowa, after the engine on his Target Chip Ganassi car blew on the pace laps.

Current series leader Power was on top of the qualifying times with a lap of 59.3757sec until Franchitti bumped himin the waning moments of the session.

“The times have been so close all weekend, but we’re happy to be at the top,” Franchitti said.

“That was a really hard-earned pole. Track position will be very important, and it is great be up front in Toronto again.”

Power, who started on pole here last year, eventually finished 24th after Franchitti bumped him late in the race and caused the Aussie to spin.

Franchitti’s victory in the crash-strewn race was eventually upheld on appeal.

Power said he expected another wild one on Sunday.

“We’re happy to start on the front row, but we all know what this race is about, a lot of crashing and bashing, so we’ll stay out of that and be in good shape,” Power said.

England’s Justin Wilson actually notched the fastest time of the day — a track record of 59.0663 in the second round of qualifying — but was third-fastest in the decisive “Fast Six” final round of qualifying.

France’s Sebastian Bourdais qualified fourth, followed by Franchitti’s teammate Scott Dixon of New Zealand.

Power leads the IndyCar standings with 186 points, wity Ryan Hunter-Reay just three adrift. Franchitti is eighth in the standings, 70 points behind Power.