Will Power blitzed the field on Saturday to grab pole for Sunday's Honda Indy Toronto, beating teammate Simon Pagenaud by nearly two tenths of a second in the Firestone Fast Six, a session he led from the outset. Still, even though it is his fifth pole of the year, Power was surprised to secure the top spot. "I was just hoping I would be like fourth or third, something like that," he quipped afterward. "I did not expect to be on pole, so I'm very happy."

Pagenaud joins his teammate on the front row and is hoping to turn his qualifying form into a strong race result. "I don't like to be 11th in the championship, but it is what it is," said the Frenchman. "It's a new era for me. It's definitely a new era for Team Penske with the fourth car so we're building as a team. Qualifying has not been an issue. We've been in the fast six every session since the beginning of the season, but its executing in the end where things haven't gone our way."

Juan Montoya made it another Penske 1-2-3 in qualifying, while Scott Dixon led for the charge for Chip Ganassi Racing by qualifying fourth. Sebastien Bourdais was fifth while Luca Filippi had an impressive run to sixth. "

A pair of incidents in the first round will make race day difficult for a couple of expected contenders. Sebastian Saavedra had just turned a lap to go third quickest in in the final minute of group one, but then went off at turn five. Even though he was in a runoff area, his incident brought out a local yellow, meaning lost his fastest lap. "I knew we had a lap time that would most likely move me onto the next round. So, on the last lap I went behind the barrier to get out of traffic," explained a disappointed Saavedra, who will start 17th. "I did not know that a yellow would come out because of what I did, but it ultimately ended our day. We'll just focus on our race car now."

In group two, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti were changing over to the softer red tires when Rodolfo Gonzalez hit the wall exiting turn one with less than two minutes remaining. Both drivers were unable to turn a lap on the softer tires and failed to advance. Andretti was particularly frustrated as he felt like a chance at the Firestone Fast Six went away. “Circumstance didn’t go our way. We didn’t get to do a full run on reds due to the red flag. My out lap on reds was awesome so I think the Dr Pepper car would have been well in the top 10, maybe in the Firestone Fast Six." The Andretti Autosport duo will grid 16th and 18th respectively.

Tomorrow's Honda Indy Toronto rolls off at 3:00 p.m. EST.

Toronto