Motorsport: Dixon hopes to better fourth-fastest

New Zealand's Scott Dixon felt there was plenty of room for improvement in today's Pole Day for the Indy 500 after he was fourth fastest in yesterday's session at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Dixon, the 2008 winner, will chase his eighth Indy 500 start and his second pole position in the No 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car after he recorded 225.83mph (363.43km/h), fourth fastest among 36 drivers.

A new qualifying format calls for traditional four-lap qualifying runs during the first five hours of time trials, but the "Fast Nine" will be locked into a 90-minute shootout that will determine their starting positions among the first three rows for the big race.

"Everyone will be at the peak of stress level," Dixon said. "All you can do is hope you come out on top.

"It's going to be a tough task. If you end up on the pole, you'll know you really earned it."

Dixon ended the day a touch frustrated: "We were struggling with balance and fuel," Dixon said. "I wasn't real comfortable with the car to trim out to the degree we need to. We did a lot of laps. All in all we got the car a little bit better but still not where we need to be."

Dixon's teammate, Dario Franchitti of Scotland, was ninth fastest at 225.281mph.

The top three speeds of the day were turned in by Helio Castroneves of Brazil at 226.558mph and Will Power of Australia at 226.429mph for Team Penske, and Alex Tagliani of Canada at 226.153mph for his FAZZT Race Team.

Queenslander Power, the series leader, sent out an early warning and said being part of a powerful team was an invaluable edge.

"The experience of the team is a big advantage, it just means you can work on those finer details, Power said. "I think most teams now are in that situation."

- NZPA