21 Jun 2009

Castroneves has pole for Iowa, Dixon third

4:20 pm on 21 June 2009

Australian driver Ryan Briscoe will start from second spot on the grid in the Iowa Corn Indy 250 after thunderstorms washed out qualifying on Saturday.

His Penske teammate Helio Castroneves from Brazil was awarded pole position ahead of Briscoe.

Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon of New Zealand and Dario Franchitti of Scotland will start third and fourth, with Danica Patrick rounding out the top five.

After storms delayed the start of qualifying for more than an hour, officials tried to clear standing water.

Eventually the session began, but only three drivers got on the track before it was halted.

Castroneves got the pole in part because of the 28 points earned by Australian Will Power for the number three car in the season-opening race in St Petersburg, Florida.

Briscoe goes into the race with the lead in the drivers' standings with 199 points. Dixon is second on 196 and Franchitti third on 188.