Castroneves claims Glen pole.

Helio Castroneves claimed his second Marlboro Pole Award of the season - and the eleventh of his career - by posting the fastest time in qualifying for the Watkins Glen Indy Grand Prix.

The Brazilian, who was second fastest in single-lap qualifying on the 3.37-mile, eleven-turn road course, upped his pace during the ten-minute Firestone Fast Six session to win his first IndyCar Series pole position on a road course.

"When you go for the single lap qualifying, you want to be sure you put it in the top six," the Penske driver explained, "I was taking it easy, to make sure we were in the top six, but, when you get to the top six, man, you're going for it. You're not messing around.

"When I got my pole lap, the track was getting better, and I was sure one of those guys was going to beat me. When I heard [Giorgio] Pantano was on the course for one last run, I was hoping he ate a lot of macaroni today. We worked really hard, and we got what we wanted."

All six drivers in Firestone Fast Six qualifying - Castroneves, Pantano, Patrick Carpentier, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti - improved on their original times and all six positions changed hands, with Pantano and Carpentier improving from fifth and sixth to second and third respectively. Dixon, who was fastest in the single-car session, fell to fourth.

"We knew we had quite a good car on the long runs, and our goal was to be in the top six for the ten-minute qualifying," Pantano, making his second appearance for Chip Ganassi's team, commented, "Now we're starting second. The important thing is to start on the front row. We did the job."

"We had nothing to lose coming in," Carpentier added, speaking for both himself and his Italian rival, "We were happy with sixth, so we just went for it. We knew our car was better in the long run, so it was a really fun ride. I have never done a lap like that in my life - for us, it was by far the fastest time we've accomplished here by more than a second and a half."

Dixon blamed a lack of grip for his slide down the order, but reckoned that the second Ganassi car was still good for the race.

"We weren't as good as we'd have liked," he admitted, "We had a lot of understeer and, the more I pushed on it to try and get more time, the more I was waiting for the front end to hook up.

"However, I think it's pretty good for the race. Nobody has done any really long runs, so we should be all right. It was a good day for the team, with two in the top four, which is nice for a change. The car seems strong and, hopefully, we'll have a consistent car too."

While all eyes may have been on Andretti Green team-mate Dan Wheldon, who just has to see the race through to half-distance on Sunday to be crowned champion, it was Kanaan and Franchitti who made it into the final shoot-out.

"We chose to do something to try to get the pole but, instead of moving forward, we moved backwards," the Brazilian reported, "But that's the way it is sometimes. I told the Team 7-Eleven guys that we're the only car on the team to make it into all three shootouts this year, so we tried to have some fun today."

"We didn't get the balance right," Franchitti agreed, "We tried some changes to get the balance back to what we had it this morning, but we just didn't get it. I think the other guys in front of us just did a better job."

Wheldon, meanwhile, could only manage ninth best time in qualifying, some two seconds from Castroneves eventual pole time, and suffered an accident in practice which slowed his progress.

"It wasn't great," he admitted, "I just lost the car in the accident, and we didn't get the best out of it after that. I still think we have a good enough car to get to the front in the race, and that's what we'll be working towards, but putting it up against the tyres in practice didn't help."

Rahal Letterman Racing's Vitor Meira was bumped from the shoot-out by Castroneves, and will start from seventh as a consequence.

"I think we left a little bit on the table on our qualifying run," the Brazilian sighed, "It is a little disappointing since I thought we could make the top six. Starting seventh isn't too bad, but passing will be at a premium in the race.

"The car felt good, but the weather keeps changing and the track surface was getting hotter. The car had a push that really hurt us. I made a slight mistake and that probably cost me two or three tenths of a second. I know there was more in the car, so I was hoping to get into the top six and then really go for it in the final ten-minute qualifying run, but I think I pushed a little too much in qualifying and that can be costly."

Meira will share row four with RLR team-mate Buddy Rice, while the team's third car, piloted by poorly Danica Patrick, starts from 16th.

"I have been a little disappointed with my road course qualifying this year., but I have to take a step back and look at the experience of some of the other guys in the series," Patrick insisted, "I am in my rookie season with the bigger cars and it takes a lot to drive these machines around a course like Watkins Glen. I'm not happy by any means, but I'm a rookie and success doesn't come easy for us."

Wheldon will line up alongside Tomas Scheckter, with the second Panther car, driven by Tomas Enge sharing row six with Sam Hornish Jr.