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Toronto IndyCar: Penske's Pagenaud takes pole as main rivals falter

Simon Pagenaud claimed pole position for the Toronto IndyCar race as Scott Dixon spun on his final fast lap

Pagenaud squeezed in a 58.429s lap around the 1.78-mile street course, reaching the line just before the session ended.

Dixon, who had led for much of the final 'fast six' session, kept his time as his spin - which came at the start of what would have been his final flying lap - did not bring out a red flag.

The five-time champion's best time was just under two-tenths of a second slower than Pagenaud's, and was good enough for second on the grid.

His Chip Ganassi Racing team mate Felix Rosenqvist will line up third on the grid, one spot ahead of championship contender Alexander Rossi who failed to move further up the grid after running wide and brushing a wall on his final timed lap.

Points leader Josef Newgarden was another to hit a wall and will start Sunday's race from fifth on the grid, one spot ahead of Ed Jones - who made the top six in qualifying for the third time this season.

Despite showing strong pace in the first two qualifying sessions, Marco Andretti narrowly missed out on the fast six and will start seventh, ahead of two-time Toronto winner Sebastien Bourdais and Spencer Pigot.

Takuma Sato completed the top 10, with Ryan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal the other two drivers whose day ended after the second round of qualifying.

A notable absentee from the latter stages of qualifying was Will Power, who missed out on the top 12 for the first time in four years as he failed to grapple with his Chevrolet-powered Dallara's set-up.

He will start one place ahead of fellow 2019 race winner Colton Herta, who lines up 16th.

Ex-Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson will also start towards the rear of the field after making contact with the wall and damaging his suspension during an early timed lap attempt.

Provisional starting grid

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 58.4293s -
2 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 58.5948s 0.1655s
3 Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 58.6793s 0.2500s
4 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 58.9215s 0.4922s
5 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 59.3103s 0.8810s
6 Ed Jones Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 59.5353s 1.1060s
7 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 58.7663s 0.3370s
8 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 58.7781s 0.3488s
9 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 58.8221s 0.3928s
10 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 58.9110s 0.4817s
11 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 59.0444s 0.6151s
12 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 59.0985s 0.6692s
13 Max Chilton Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 59.4811s 1.0518s
14 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 58.9293s 0.5000s
15 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 59.5508s 1.1215s
16 Colton Herta Harding Racing Dallara/Honda 59.0549s 0.6256s
17 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 59.9761s 1.5468s
18 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 59.2890s 0.8597s
19 Matheus Leist AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m00.1853s 1.7560s
20 Marcus Ericsson Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 59.6299s 1.2006s
21 Sage Karam Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.1134s 2.6841s
22 Tony Kanaan AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 59.7317s 1.3024s

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