Mike Conway

By Andrew Cutler
April 10 2010

Will Power looked close to unstoppable yet again today as he claimed the pole for Sunday's Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, but that isn't the only noteworthy performance of qualifying. KV Racing Technologies (3 cars) and Dreyer & Rheinbold racing (2 cars) managed to get all of their drivers through the first elimination round, and one apeice into the final one.

In doing so, they pushed aside (not literally!) some of the 'usual' faces that one has come to expect to see in the 2nd and 3rd rounds. Ryan Hunter-Reay couldn't make it past the first session: teammate Tony Kanaan didn't make it out of the second. Dario Franchitti, who never missed out on Q3 last year, has still to make it into the 'fast six' session in 2010: He will start 7th. Justin Wilson, who usually puts on a qualifying exhibition on the road & street circuts, was outshone today by his D&R squad-mate Mike Conway: Wilson will start back in 11th.

Conway, on the other hand, will get his first IndyCar front row start after an impressive qualifying effort, slotting in beside pole-sitter Power. Row Two will feature Helio Castroneves and Marco Andretti. Scott Dixon and Takuma Sato, the best of the KVRT bunch today, are on Row Three.

Here is the complete starting grid: http://www.indycar.com/var/assets/GPofAlabamastartinglineup.pdf

J.K. Vernay will start on pole for the Firestone Indy Lights race, scheduled to run prior to the IndyCar event.

The Indy Grand Prix of Alabma will start at 3pm ET/8pm GMT on Sunday.