IPS: Mutoh takes pole for Liberty Challenge.

Hideki Mutoh earned his first career Indy Pro Series pole position, winning the SWE Pole Award for race one of the Liberty Challenge double-header on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Mutoh, who ranks second in points after five rounds, posted a time of 1min 25.281secs on the 13-turn, 2.605-mile road course, ducking under Graham Rahal's record pole time of 1min 25.5810secs, set a year ago. Mutoh's previous best start in the #55 Panther Racing entry came at the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway, when he qualified third.

"The quick lap was on the limit, but no mistakes, the car was so good," Mutoh said afterwards, "I just tried not to push too much. I knew Alex had potential to catch me. But this is my fastest time on the track, and I'm still learning where I can push and not."

Alex Lloyd, winner of the first five races this season, will start second in the opening 18-lap race, having carded a best lap of 1min 25.552secs in the #7 Lucas Oil/Isilon Systems/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car. Lloyd has started second in two of his victories this season, including the Freedom 100 on the oval at Indianapolis in May, when he led all 40 laps to take the chequered flag.

"We ran pretty well today," the Briton reported, "We started off the beginning of the first run in the 45-minute session, and we were nowhere. We struggled. We made some big changes during the session, and that certainly helped. We were a lot quicker toward the end, but still my lap was as hard as I could go and we still came up three-tenths short.

"Today we didn't quite have the pace. I'm hoping, with a few changes overnight, we can close it up a bit. We were pretty strong, but Hideki was quicker. We're on the front row. That's where we've been all year. I was on the front row, second last year, so I know it's a tough race and a lot can happen. We'll see if we can find some speed tonight, and we'll see if we have anything for Hideki tomorrow. That lap time was the best we could get out of the car. We used every little last bit we had. I was surprised we got as close as we did."

Asked how he was going to combat the threat of Lloyd on race day, Mutoh admitted that he would keep it clean into turn one.

"I want to race really fair," he insisted, "I don't want to bash wheels or anything like that. I just want to drive fair and have a good and safe race."

Richard Antinucci, nephew of 1998 Indianapolis 500 winner Eddie Cheever Jr, qualified third for his third Indy Pro Series race.

"It was a little scrappy, to be honest, but we came away with third, and we're very happy," he said, "It's quite tight from third onward. We were right there with first place this morning with Mutoh, but he and Lloyd seemed to gain more time. It's not the best of qualifying, but coming away with third place gives us a very good shot tomorrow and everything to play for.

"The heat affected us and caught us off guard from morning to qualifying. All of the staff, including myself, have never worked on an IPS car. And we've never been here before. It was all new territory. Only a 30-minute practice, and it was kind of like throwing the dice on what to expect with the Formula One rubber on the track. I was slipping and sliding all over. We have to dial it in. I'm looking forward to the car working well."

Brian Stewart Racing's Bobby Wilson will start fourth, while Andretti Green Racing's Jaime Camara qualified fifth. Stephen Simpson, Jonathan Klein, Wade Cunningham, Ryan Justice and Daniel Herrington round out the top ten in the 25-car field.