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[dave carr]

In a fast and furious opening 90 minutes of pole day qualifying the eleven available slots were filled and five cars were bumped for being too slow. Of the former Champ Car competitors, Rookie Graham Rahal stood alone in the field and he was one position off the bubble with top notch competition including two time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves yet to qualify.

Castroneves’ car was pulled out of line when the team determined the weather and track conditions would improve later in the day.

Danica Mania made an appearance when Danica Patrick, the diminutive damsel and Motegi winner took the provisional pole from Scott Dixon at 12:35pm with an average speed of 225.197mph. The crowd roared in approval until Dan Wheldon wrested away the fast qualifier honors with an average speed of 225.840mph at 1:09pm.

Speeds were down from morning practice as the sun warmed the track and the wind picked up. Marco Andretti set quick time of the month in morning practice with a 228.318mph lap but was only able to manage a 224.162mph four lap average in qualifying.

The track is now open for practice and/or qualifications.

As of 2:15pm the provisional line up is:

1. #10 Dan Wheldon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing, 225.840mph
2. #7 Danica Patrick, Motorola Andretti Green, 225.197mph
3. #9 Scott Dixon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing, 225.178mph
4. #6 Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske, 224.833mph
5. #11 Tony Kanaan, Team 7-Eleven Andretti Green, 224.794mph
6. #4 Vitor Meira, Delphi National Guard, 224.346mph
7. #26 Marco Andretti, Team Indiana Jones/Blockbuster, 224.162mph
8. #20 Ed Carpenter, Menards/Vision Racing, 223.835mph
9. #12 Tomas Scheckter, Symantec Luczo Dragon Racing, 223.779mph
10. #06 Graham Rahal, Hole in the Wall Camps, 223.355mph
11. #22 Davey Hamilton, Hewlett-Packard Vision Racing, 223.287mph

Hideki Mutoh’s #27 Formula Dream car failed inspection and was removed from the field. This re-instated Davey Hamilton’s previously bumped qualifying run.