Sato Wins Pole For Race 1 (Update with Full results)

UPDATE Qualifying Saturday for the Shell & Pennzoil GP of Houston – Race 1 IZOD IndyCar Series event on the 1.634-mile MD Anderson Cancer Center Speedway at Reliant Park, with starting position, car number in parentheses, driver, time and speed in parentheses:

1. (14) Takuma Sato, 01:00.4535 (97.305)
2. (12) Will Power, 01:01.1524 (96.192)
3. (9) Scott Dixon, 01:00.6057 (97.060)
4. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, 01:01.4911 (95.663)
5. (77) Simon Pagenaud, 01:00.6184 (97.040)
6. (78) Simona De Silvestro, 01:01.5527 (95.567)
7. (27) James Hinchcliffe, 01:01.2123 (96.098)
8. (98) Luca Filippi, 01:01.6520 (95.413)
9. (5) EJ Viso, 01:01.3274 (95.918)
10. (10) Dario Franchitti, 01:01.7201 (95.308)
11. (16) James Jakes, 01:01.3678 (95.855)
12. (25) Marco Andretti, 01:01.7907 (95.199)
13. (18) Mike Conway, 01:01.5154 (95.625)
14. (19) Justin Wilson, 01:01.8065 (95.174)
15. (11) Tony Kanaan, 01:01.5409 (95.585)
16. (1) Ryan Hunter-Reay, 01:01.8305 (95.138)
17. (83) Charlie Kimball, 01:01.6329 (95.443)
18. (4) Oriol Servia, 01:01.9043 (95.024)
19. (15) Graham Rahal, 01:02.0140 (94.856)
20. (67) Josef Newgarden, 01:02.1588 (94.635)
21. (6) Sebastian Saavedra, 01:02.1175 (94.698)
22. (3) Helio Castroneves, 01:02.2823 (94.447)
23. (20) Ed Carpenter, 01:03.5193 (92.608)
24. (55) Tristan Vautier, No Time (No Speed)

10/05/13 Takuma Sato put hometown hero A.J. Foyt's famous #14 on pole for Race 1 of the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston. In the unique split group qualifying format, Sato was the fastest driver in the second group, and posted a faster overall lap than group 1 leader, Will Power. It was Sato's third career pole position and the first pole for A.J. Foyt Racing since 1999.

Unofficially, championship contender Scott Dixon will start third. Dragon Racing's Sebastien Bourdais qualified fourth but will take a ten-grid spot engine penalty and start fourteenth. Simon Pagenaud qualified fifth.

Check back in with AutoRacing1.com shortly for a full starting lineup update.