Colombia’s Sebastian Saavedra edged English rookie Jack Hawksworth for pole position on Friday in qualifying for the inaugural IndyCar Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

The South American turned in a lap over the 2.439-mile (3.925km) Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in 1min 23.8822secs with a Chevrolet motor to take the inside front row spot in Saturday’s race by 0.1966 of a second over Honda-powered Hawksworth.

American Ryan Hunter-Reay was third followed in order by Frenchman Simon Pagenaud, Australian Will Power, New Zealand’s Scott Dixon, France’s Sebastien Bourdais and Juan Pablo Montoya of Colombia.

Reigning Indianapolis 500 champion Tony Kanaan of Brazil was ninth in qualifying, just ahead of countryman Helio Castroneves, a three-time Indy 500 champion.

Kanaan and his rivals for this year’s Indy 500 crown will begin practice for the 98th running of the famed oval classic on Sunday, with time trials May 17-18 for the May 25 race.

The new road-course event was added this year to the month of festivities at the “Brickyard”, using a renovated version of the layout that once hosted an F1 event and still hosts MotoGP races.