Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon stormed to pole position in qualifying for IndyCar’s first race at Watkins Glen in seven years.

Having topped all three practice sessions, Dixon was at ease in his Dallara-Chevrolet to set a 1m22.5259s pole time.

Will Power almost didn’t make it into the top six, but he was promoted to the final qualifying segment when Mikhail Aleshin was penalised for impeding Juan Pablo Montoya.

Power took advantage of that good fortune to land second on the grid thanks to a lap just 0.0483 seconds down on Dixon.

Sebastien Bourdais and Helio Castroneves finished third and fourth respectively, while Tony Kanaan and an elated Max Chilton will line up on row three for the race.

It was a tough day at the office for championship-leader Simon Pagenaud who missed out on the Fast Six in his Penske Dallara-Chevrolet, and will line up in row four in front of Montoya.

It was a controversial qualifying with a series of times being deleted altering the progress of some drivers’ day.

James Hinchcliffe was visibly fuming after his time good enough to secure a place in the Fast 12 was deleted because of a spin out of Turn 7 on his first flying run in group one caused a yellow flag.

Graham Rahal suffered a similar fate in the second group when his time for sixth, which was good enough for the Fast 12, was deleted by stewards who deemed he had interfered with the result.

Takuma Sato lines up at the back having spun at Turn 7 into the tyre barriers.

STARTING GRID

Pole and lap record for Dixon on Indycar’s return to Watkins Glen