Franchitti, Bourdais on Row 1 for standing start

Via IndyCar.com

TORONTO, ON, JULY 12, 2013 -- Dario Franchitti earned his first Indy car pole start at Toronto in his rookie season in CART. That was July 20, 1997, with Hogan Racing. He earned his 32nd at Toronto and the second year in a row he'll have the inside lane for the Honda Indy Toronto on July 13.
 
Race 1 of the doubleheader weekend on the 1.7-mile, 11-turn Exhibition Place street course will have an added twist with a standing start implemented for the 24-car field.
 
"I'm just delighted for the Target crew to get the pole," said Franchitti, who moved into a tie with Michael Andretti for sixth on the all-time Indy car list by claiming the Verizon P1 Award. "We've had a tough stretch and it just feels good to come back and get the pole."
 
Sebastien Bourdais secured his first front-row start in IZOD IndyCar Series competition in the No. 7 Dragon Racing car. Combined, Franchitti and Bourdais have amassed 62 victories and 63 pole starts.
 
Will Power and Tony Kanaan will share Row 2, while James Jakes and Scott Dixon qualified on Row 3. James will incur a 10-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change following the Pocono INDYCAR 400 Fueled by Sunoco on July 7.
 
Series championship points leader Helio Castroneves qualified seventh and defending race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, who entered the event 23 points behind Castroneves, qualified sixth.
"It being a doubleheader, there are double points on the table, and we know the importance of the weekend, the championship coming down to the wire," said Hunter-Reay, driver of the No. 1 DHL car for Andretti Autosport. "First standing start -- there's a lot of anticipation and nerves leading up to that on the teams' part, manufacturers and drivers, so that should be interesting; it should be fun to mix things up a bit."
 
IZOD IndyCar Series drivers practiced standing starts from a pit box at the end of pit lane during the morning session. INDYCAR officials monitored the mandatory launches as drivers got acclimated with the light sequence countdown.
 
Following two formation laps, 12 rows of two will be staged on the frontstretch for the start of the 85-lap race (3 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network). Red lights will fill 12 rows (two at a time) of the panel, and when filled there will be a delay between .5 and 3 seconds for the panel to switch to all green.