Australian Ryan Briscoe earned pole position for Saturday's IndyCar Series race at Texas Motor Speedway, hoping he can improve on his runner-up finish to Penske teammate Helio Castroneves here last year.
Briscoe dominated much of the race last year, leading 160 laps before Castroneves beat him to the punch after the final pit stop and held him off over the final 46 laps.
Briscoe nabbed his second pole position of this season and the 10th of his career.
Newly crowned Indianapolis 500 champion Dario Franchitti of Scotland qualified second-fastest.
He'll be hoping to continue the trend that saw the last two Indy 500 winners also win at Texas in the same year. That was Castroneves last year and New Zealand's Scott Dixon in 2008.
Penske driver Will Power of Australia starts third, ahead of Dixon and Castroneves.
England's Alex Lloyd was the sixth-fastest qualifier. Lloyd crossed the finish line in third at Indianapolis last Sunday behind second-placed compatriot Dan Wheldon.
But an unprecedented Indy 500 British podium sweep was undone when he was ruled to have illegally passed Marco Andretti under caution and Andretti was promoted to third place.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
