Power Dominates St. Pete Practice, Qualifying

While it is admittedly still early in the season, it appears that Will Power has established himself as the driver to beat if one wishes to challenge for the 2010 IndyCar Series championship. After winning the season opener at Sao Paulo, the Australian topped the speed charts in all three practice sessions and captured the pole for this Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Afterwards, he said simply; “I came away with pole. We would have been disappointed if we didn’t given our pace this weekend.”

Power will share the front row with Tony Kanaan, who seems to be riding a wave of resurgence along with the rest of Andretti Autosport. Row Two will feature Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, as well as D&R's Justin Wilson, who once again showcased his considerable road & street qualifying skills. Helio Castroneves and Marco Andretti will start from Row Three.

The unique 'wrinkle' that the IRL has mandated for the IndyCar Series road/street circut qualifying, where a blind draw determins which of two separate first round sessions one will participate in, helped to shake up the normal squad heirarchy (this was the desired intention of the blind draw). Two drivers from top-tier outfits - Penske's Ryan Briscoe and Ganassi's Dario Franchitti - failed to make it out of Q1, and will have to start from deep in the pack. I'm not sure what the source of Briscoe's difficulties were, but Dario put the blame for his misfortunes pretty much squarely on Ryan for holding him up.  

After the IndyCar guys and gals finished up, it was time for the Firestone Indy Lights drivers to set the grid for their season opener, to be held Sunday at noon ET. Canada's James Hinchcliffe notched his first series pole for the event. He will be joined on the front row by French rookie JK Vernay.

The Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will start at 3:30pm ET/8:30pm GMT on Sunday.