Medeiros captures Freedom 100 pole.

Thiago Medeiros watched 15 other Infiniti Pro Series drivers set their qualifying times for Saturday's Futaba Freedom 100 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway - then went out and topped all their efforts.

The Brazilian claimed his second consecutive IPS pole after posting a two-lap average of 189.274mph around the historic 2.5-mile oval, the fastest of six cars to break Ed Carpenter's existing pole speed record of 188.490mph. Medeiros was pushing hard, however, and came close to clipping the wall in turn two of his second lap.

"It was very close," he admitted, "I don't know just how close it was, but I had very strong sidewinds on the exit of two, and I know I almost hit the wall. But my mind was set - I wasn't going to lift that time. I might touch the wall, I might use the wall, but I wasn't going to lift. That was my goal.

"I have to say thanks to Sam Schmidt Motorsports and those guys. They did a wonderful job, and gave me a very good car and put everything together, and we made a nice run. The weather is really warm right now, so there was too much grip on the track, but I tried to learn is to be more careful in the first warm-up lap and started pushing hard in the other two. That's the trick that I learned watching the other guys run."

Paul Dana, the season's other polesitter having topped the charts in round one at Homestead-Miami in February, will start on the outside of the front row after a two-lap average of 189.240mph.

"We went quick in the test, all day yesterday and all today, but I was a tiny bit conservative in the line that I drove," the Hemelgarn 91 Johnson Motorsports driver admitted, "It was greasier than this morning, and it was hotter. The car was moving around a little bit underneath me, so I was a little conservative. If I had widened the arc a little bit in all four corners, I think it's a tenth over the two laps, so it would have been close."

Jeff Simmons, who returns the IPS in the #14 AJ Foyt Racing entry this weekend, will share row two with newcomer Jay Drake.

"I knew the first lap was good, but I'm not sure why we slowed down a little bit on the second one," last year's series runner-up said, puzzled, "It can be anything, really. You get a little gust of wind or anything around here can change it. We've got a good place to start, though - we ran the quickest laps that we have run alone, so the car was pretty good."

Drake briefly held pole before settling for fourth spot.

"Just to come here and get to drive around this racetrack is a dream come true for me," the Valvoline USAC Sprint Car Series points leader admitted, "Even if it's just temporarily, you know, to come here and qualify for a race and have them say, 'It's a new track record,' that's something you dream of as a little boy. If nothing else happens this weekend, it's been awesome already."

Canadian veteran Marty Roth will start from the outside of row three in the Freedom 100, and will hope to carry some of that form into IRL qualifying as he focuses on making the grid for the Indianapolis 500 - even if he was still searching for some ultimate speed in his self-run car.

"I went around flat out, so we're going to have to go through it and figure out what happened out there," Roth said, "It could have been the wind throwing the car off, but it's still a great car, so I can't be too disappointed."

Fifth fell to Medeiros' team-mate Arie Luyendyk Jr, who lines up directly in front of round one winner Phil Giebler.

"Indy means a lot to the whole team and me, especially," the Duesenberg driver said, "I hope to go out there and have a good race, and it shows from my previous qualifying position in Homestead that you don't need to start up front to get up front at the end of the race."

Veterans Billy Roe and Jon Herb took eighth and tenth respectively, sandwiching another returnee, Cory Witherill.

"We could have gotten a little bit more out of the car," the native American Indian admitted, "My first warm-up lap was three-tenths of a second quicker but, for some funny reason, the pace dropped down on the first lap and, on the second lap, we got a little slower again. Maybe it's because of the heat - the handling of the car changes a lot with the heat and everything, and obviously it affects the engine."

Having made the podium on debut in Phoenix, reigning Barber Dodge champion Leo Maia was disappointed to only make the sixth row.

"My crew works really hard, everyone at Brian Stewart Racing put in 100 per cent, so to be twelfth on the grid is disappointing," he admitted, "But I was flat out - from the time I left the pits, I was flat out, never took my foot off the pedal for one lap. At least this track is one where you can pass, so I'm not too worried."

Qualifying speeds - Futaba Freedom 100:

1. Thiago Medeiros Schmidt 189.274mph
2. Paul Dana Hemelgarn 189.240mph
3. Jeff Simmons Foyt 189.200mph
4. Jay Drake AFS 189.192mph
5. Arie Luyendyk Jr Schmidt 189.118mph
6. Marty Roth Roth 188.959mph
7. Phil Giebler Duesenberg 188.002mph
8. Billy Roe Hardley 187.185mph
9. Cory Witherill Hemelgarn 186.906mph
10. Jon Herb Aercon 186.162mph
11. Matt Beardsley Beardsley 185.564mph
12. Leonardo Maia BSR 185.545mph
13. Brad Pollard Hardley 184.912mph
14. Rolando Quintanilla Roquin 184.869mph
15. Jesse Mason BSR 184.586mph
16. Gary Peterson AFS 180.324mph
17. Taylor Fletcher Bullet 178.100mph