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Castroneves Flies To 3rd Consecutive IndyCar Pole At Watkins Glen

Watkins Glen, NY ? The IndyCar Series has come to the famous Watkins Glen road course three times and Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves has captured the pole position each and every time.

The flying Brazilian ended up second to Scott Dixon in the round of single-car qualifications but he was untouchable during the important 10-minute Firestone Fast Six competition that determined the first three rows for Sunday?s Camping World Watkins Glen Grand Prix.

When the second round ended, Castroneves had set a new track record with a speed of 136.021 miles per hour, exceeding his 2005 standard of 133.806 mph He won the AAMCO Transmission Pole Award for the fifth time in 2007 and for the 21st time in his brilliant career. As always, he drove the familiar red and white Team Penske Dallara.

?Qualifying has become more like a race in itself,? Castroneves said. ?It has been a good day for my team. In single-car qualifying, I didn?t want to do anything stupid. To be in the top six, you don?t need to take a lot of chances. After that you have 10 minutes, which is enough for six guys to go really, really fast.?

Castroneves pitted after grabbing the top spot and returned to the track after Scott Dixon and Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti started to narrow the gap. ?I tried as hard as I could, and I only slipped on one corner.?

The top six qualifiers exceeded the previous track record.

Dixon powered to the second-fastest qualification time with a speed of 135.449 mph. ?We came up a little bit short, more my fault than the guys,? he said. ?We had the laps to do it, but we just couldn?t piece them together. On my last lap, I was up by four- tenths, which would have put us happily ahead, but I was a bit sketchy trying to push it a little bit harder.?

Row two qualifiers were Andretti Green Racing teammates Dario Franchitti and Tony Kanann at 135.286 and 135.124 mph, respectively.

?Tony (Kanaan) and I had the same set-up,? Franchitti noted. ?We will have to sit down tonight and see what we can do to make the car better for tomorrow.?

Added Kanaan, ?I am reasonably happy (with the time). It is a long way around this place, and you have to be perfect all the way around.?

Sam Hornish Jr. and Marco Andretti earned the fifth and sixth starting positions with Buddy Rice and Vitor Meira next in line.
Darren Manning and Dan Wheldon rounded out the top-10 of qualifiers.

Kosuke Matsuura, Jeff Simmons, Tomas Scheckter, Scott Sharp, Danica Patrick, A. J. Foyt IV and Ed Carpenter were the next seven in order with Sarah Fisher relegated to the 18th and the last starting position after slipping off the course, making slight contact with a tire barrier.

?I am pretty much a rookie on road courses,? Fisher said. ?When you get on the power too early, this is what happens.?

ABC-TV will telecast the 60-lap race at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday.

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