Bourdais ends oval pole drought in Phoenix IndyCar qualifying

Sebastien Bourdais will start an oval race from pole position for the first time in 12 years on Saturday night after topping qualifying for the IndyCar Phoenix Grand Prix.

Bourdais took advantage of his placement as the final driver to take to the track in qualifying to record a two-lap average speed of 188.539 mph, going 0.4 mph faster than Penske's Simon Pagenaud to secure pole position.

The result marked Bourdais' first oval pole since Milwaukee 2006, and is just the second in Dale Coyne Racing's 35-year history as it continued its good start to the season following the Frenchman's victory in St. Petersburg three weeks ago.

Pagenaud was left to settle for P2 on the grid, with Penske teammate Will Power securing third ahead of Andretti Autosport's Alexander Rossi.

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports enjoyed a strong qualifying as James Hinchcliffe and rookie Robert Wickens secured P5 and P6 respectively for the start at Phoenix, finishing ahead of defending champion Josef Newgarden.

Ryan Hunter-Reay will take the start from eighth for Andretti ahead of Tony Kanaan, while debutant Pietro Fittipaldi impressed to secure 10th place for his first IndyCar race.