For the 12th time this season, Roger Penske’s team showcased their prowess in qualifying; however it was Ryan Briscoe and not Will Power that secured the top spot this time around. With an average two-lap qualifying speed of 216.346mph, Briscoe’s speed advantage over fellow front-row starter, Dario Franchitti was ample indeed – the Scot averaged 215.593mph over his two fast laps.

Power did head the all-Penske second row; however Franchitti’s Ganassi team mate certainly made life a little difficult for himself – Scott Dixon will starting 15th following a difficult run.Marco Andretti was the top Andretti-Autosport runner with his 5th place spot; however it was a mixed bag for the four-car team – Ryan Hunter-Reay slots in at 9th position, while Danica Patrick and Tony Kanaan will start from 12th and 13th respectively.

Alongside Andretti in 6th position will be Graham Rahal in his Newman-Haas machine, while his team mate Hideki Mutoh runs from one row behind. The Newman-Haas pair will be sandwiching the Panther Racing driver of Dan Wheldon. The 2005 Champion has had a difficult season so far and there are questions as to whether he will still be at Panther next year, but a good result here may help to revive his flagging career. Temporary team mate, Ed Carpenter lines up 11th in his first run since the Indianapolis 500 in May.

Takuma Sato got the best out of the KV Racing equipment – the former F1 driver will start front the outside of row 5; however fellow KV racer’s, EJ Viso and Mario Moraes will be rolling from 16th and 21st respectively.

Former Indy Lights Champion Alex Lloyd is currently running as rookie of the year and he will be starting beside Kanaan in 14th place; however in a very rare occurrence, the much maligned Milka Duno qualified 26th spot. It does not say something positive about the state of the current car and oval track that a driver that can be be 8 seconds per lap down at Watkins Glen is battling for places with other drivers at the rear of the field.

Of the remaining “regular” runners, Raphael Matos qualified in 18th ahead of the row 10 pair of Alex Tagliani (FAZZT Racing) and Bertrand Baguette (Conquest Racing). Justin Wilson (Dreyer & Reinbold) and Vitor Meira (AJ Foyt Racing) filled out row 12.  Simona de Silvestro starts a disappointing 27th for HVM.

There were a number of part-timers back for this race too with Tomas Scheckter 17th for Conquest Racing (replacing the skill-less Francesco Dracone), while Ana Beatriz returns for Dreyer & Reinbold (22nd), Davey Hamilton sits at de Ferran / Dragon Racing (28th).

Both Sarah Fisher Racing machines entered the race with Fisher herself qualifying 25th and Jay Howard picking up last spot out of the 29 runners. For the few races Howard has run, he has generally been off the pace – one wonders how quickly this partnership will dissolve once the season is done.

2010 IndyCar 300km Race of Chicagoland (Qualifying)

2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Championship

Indy Lights

There are occasions when drivers have no choice but to rise above the elements and conditions to get that little bit extra from the car – an example being Mark Webber when the Red Bull man drove the 2007 Japanese Grand Prix with a stomach bug and famously vomited into his helmet when on the team radio during a safety car period.

Martin Plowman had to endure just such conditions this week as the Staffordshire pilot came down with a stomach flu. Despite the discomfort, the 22-year-old planted his AFS / Andretti Autosport machine onto pole position for the Indy Lights Chicagoland 100 with a two-lap average of 189.503 mph, claiming the bonus point in the process.

Alongside him is fellow Briton, Pippa Mann who secured her first front row in the series.Last year’s Championship contender Sebastian Saavedra put his Bryan Herta Autosport car onto the second row, with Philip Major alongside him; both qualified ahead of current championship leader and title hunter, JK Vernay (5th) and Charlie Kimball (6th).

Gustavo Yacaman planted his Cape Motorsports car on the inside of the fourth row, with Indy Lights returnee Brandon Wagner on the outside. Wagner wasn’t the only driver to reappear this week – Dillon Battistini made his first Lights appearance since the end of 2008 placing in 9th and Arie Luyendyk Jr steps in at Alliance Motorsport in place of Shane Hmiel, qualifying a lowly 14th. Stefan Wilson (10th) comes back after missing Sonoma with funding issues.

Near the rear of the field, ‘Speedy’ Dan Clarke and Adrian Campos Jr filled out the sixth row, while Championship challenger James Hinchcliffe had a dreadful session, qualifying all the way down in 13th. Rodrigo Barbosa’s dire weekend continued – near or on the bottom of the time sheets in practice, the Brazilian found himself last and a long way off the pace in qualifying.

Firestone Indy Lights Chicagoland 100 at Chicagoland Speedway (Qualifying)

Firestone Indy Lights Championship (after Qualifying)

The Chicagoland 300 starts at 1am (BST) on Sunday morning and will broadcast live from indycar.com and Sky Sports 4, with coverage beginning at 12.30am.  Coverage for the Indy Lights begins at around 10pm from indycar.com, with the race beginning shortly afterward.