With the crashfest that was Toronto still relatively fresh in the memory, the IndyCar Series moves to the Canadian city of Edmonton for a run on the bumpy airport runways and taxi lanes. The 14-turn, 1.97 mile circuit offers the drivers one of the most physical contests on the calendar and at a length of 95 laps tomorrow, expect to see some falter. Indeed, Edmonton is a challenge that may leave some desperate for the hillier and scenic climbs of Mid-Ohio and Sonoma Raceway.

The 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series is now well passed its halfway point and with ten of the seventeen rounds run, Will Power leads the title hunt by some 43 points over Dario Franchitti, while the Aussie is 78 points ahead of third in the table Scott Dixon. Power's Penske team mates, Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves are even further away as the sit 4th and 6th in the standings respectively; sandwiching the Andretti Autosport car driver by Ryan Hunter-Reay.

Power won this race last year during his part-time series run and the Penske driver will be hoping for more of the same in this time around and with pole position secured, the Australian has already given himself a head start. This week, the IndyCar's are supported by the IndyLights Series. As they head in the eighth round of their 13th race season, it's former F3 EuroSeries competitor JK Vernay with the title lead; the Frenchman with a commanding 67 point lead over James Hinchcliffe. Charlie Kimball is close behind in 3rd spot overall.

Admittedly, it can be difficult to pass at Edmonton - the straights aren't very long and the corners are mostly 3rd gear mid-speed runs, so a good grid slot is vital for a good result. As it is an in use airport, the track is also very wide, so a driver would have to try especially hard to have an accident; although Takuma Sato, EJ Viso and IndyLights driver Kimball tried their best during practice.

IndyCar qualifying

In qualifying, not only did Will Power secure the top spot, he did so by thrashing the previous lap record - a lap of 60.76 seconds was enough to keep the Australian ahead of his team mate, Helio Castroneves. The Chip Ganassi challengers were relegated to the second row as Dixon had just a few thousandths of a second over Dario Franchitti; both were a long way behind the leading pair. Ryan Briscoe and EJ Viso filled out the 5th and 6th spots respectively and while that may be disappointing for Briscoe to be the slowest of the Penske's, KV Racing were delighted by Viso's performance - easily the quickest of his four car team.

One of the surprises of qualifying was the progress made by Swiss rookie, Simona de Silvestro. The popular young lady topped the second part of first qualifying and notched up 7th quickest in Q2; in fact de Silvestro was just edged out of the Firestone Fast 6 by Viso. The 'Swiss Miss' would also be joined by Ryan Hunter-Reay, Justin Wilson, Raphael Matos, Hideki Mutoh and Tomas Scheckter.

It was a disappointing session for Andretti-Autosport as the four-car squad struggled unexpectedly. Apart from Hunter-Reay's decent pace, both Danica Patrick and Marco Andretti registered poor times, while veteran Tony Kanaan crashed in turn 7 before he had laid down a marker.

Following a valiant run, Takuma Sato just missed out on a Q2 spot to the Lucas Dragon/de Ferran car of Raphael Matos, meaning the ex-Formula 1 driver will line up on the inside on row 7. The 33-year-old will be joined on the inside lane by Paul Tracy, Mario Romancini, Patrick Tagliani, Danica Patrick and Vitor Meira.

In the second part of Q1 Mario Moraes, Marco Andretti, Alex Lloyd, Bertrand Baguette and Dan Wheldon were locked out and will start on the outside of rows 7-11, with the crashed Kanaan on the outside of row 12. Milka Duno starts last with no qualifying time.

2010 Edmonton: IndyCar qualifying results

Indy Lights qualifying

James Hinchcliffe claimed his third IndyLights pole of the season, ahead of title rival, JK Vernay. In a 60 minute run, Vernay lead the qualifying session for much of way, only occasionally swapping the top spot with Hinchcliffe; however with only moments to go, the Canadian picked up the pole spot. Martin Plowman and Charlie Kimball also figured during a fraught session, but had to settle for row 2 starting positions.

Both races will be available on indycar.com, with IndyLights going green at 8pm BST and the main event starting at 11pm BST, although coverage for both will begin some 15 minutes prior them going green. For those of us with televisions, the race will also be broadcast on Sky Sports 4 with coverage starting at 10.30pm (BST).

2010 Edmonton: Indy Lights Qualifying results