» IndyCars: Hunter-Reay on Alabama pole

Reigning IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay will start from pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsport Park, surviving a late challenge from Will Power in an action-filled qualifying session.

The Andretti Autosports driver moved to top spot in the dying moments of the final ‘Fast Six’ phase of qualifying, and then had to endure a tense wait as Power went for one final dash to try and wrestle top spot, with his efforts ultimately falling short by two-tenths of a second.

The pair line up ahead of the series’ sensational rookie Tristan Vautier, who finished third-fastest in just his second-ever IndyCar outing. The Frenchman originally qualified seventh-quickest at the end of the second round of qualifying, but was a late invitee to the ‘Fast Six’ after the event stewards disqualified Takuma Sato from further participation.

The Japanese driver was the first victim of the new sporting regulations sub-clause, which stipulates that a driver can be disqualified from further participation – in addition to having his fastest two laps disallowed – if found to have impeded another driver in either the Group or ‘Round 2’ segments of qualifying.

Scott Dixon ensured that four difference teams would occupy the first four grid positions with his effort getting him the outside of the second row of the grid, while Chip Ganassi teammate Charlie Kimball delivered an excellent fifth-fastest effort, ahead of Hélio Castroneves in the second of the three Penske entries.

Making his IndyCar debut in Penske’s third car was AJ Allmendinger, who qualified a solid tenth-fastest.

Qualifying saw several high-profile candidates eliminated, with several knocked out in the Group 1 phase, including the likes of Simon Pagenaud, Dario Franchitti, Alex Tagliani, Tony Kanaan, and Sébastien Bourdais.

Simona de Silvestro was another high-profile runner to be knocked out in ‘Group 2’, which will be all the more disappointing given she was quickest in Saturday’s final practice session.

Championship leader and St Petersburg racewinner James Hinchcliffe was another runner to be eliminated in the same group. The Canadian later complained that he’d been blocked by Power, but the stewards disregarded his cries, consigning the Andretti driver to a lowly twentieth on the grid.

2013 IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Alabama Final Qualifying Results:

No.	Driver	Entry / Team	Result
1.	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport – Chevrolet	1:07.0871	F6
2.	Will Power	Team Penske – Chevrolet	1:07.3304	F6
3.	Tristan Vautier	SPH – Honda	1:07.3616	F6
4.	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda	1:07.3642	F6
5.	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda	1:07.4987	F6
6.	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske – Chevrolet	1:07.5106	F6
7.	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport – Chevrolet	1:07.4893	R2
8.	Justin Wilson	Dale Coyne Racing – Honda	1:07.4964	R2
9.	Sebastián Saavedra	Dragon Racing – Chevrolet	1:07.6317	R2
10.	AJ Allmendinger	Team Penske – Chevrolet	1:07.6972	R2
11.	James Jakes	Rahal Letterman Lanigan – Honda	1:07.8832	R2
12.	Takuma Sato	AJ Foyt Enterprises – Honda	Disallowed	R2
13.	Simon Pagenaud	SPH – Honda09	1:07.2409	G1
14.	Simona de Silvestro	KV Racing Technology – Chevrolet	1:07.7291	G2
15.	Alex Tagliani	Barracuda Racing – Honda	1:07.2886	G1
16.	E.J. Viso	Team Venzuela – Chevrolet	1:07.7337	G2
17.	Dario Franchitti	Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda	1:07.2965	G1
18.	Oriol Servià	Panther / D&R – Chevrolet	1:07.7474	G2
19.	Tony Kanaan	KV Racing Technology – Chevrolet	1:07.3761	G1
20.	James Hinchcliffe	Andretti Autosport – Chevrolet	1:07.7774	G2
21.	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan – Honda	1:07.4184	G1
22.	Josef Newgarden	Sarah Fisher Hartman – Honda	1:07.7830	G2
23.	Sébastien Bourdais	Dragon Racing – Chevrolet	1:07.4567	G1
24.	JR Hildebrand	Panther Racing – Chevrolet	1:07.8467	G2
25.	Ana Beatriz	Dale Coyne Racing – Honda	1:08.9108	G1
26.	Ed Carpenter	Ed Carpenter Racing – Chevrolet	1:08.6362	G2