IRL Rain forces non-traditional qualifying

Honda Indy 225 pole-sitter Tony Kanaan made his debut at Pikes Peak.
FOUNTAIN, Colo. (AP) -- Torrential rain washed out qualifying Saturday, giving IRL points leader Tony Kanaan the pole for the Honda Indy 225.
The starting order for the race today was determined by combined practice speeds at Pikes Peak International Raceway. Helio Castroneves will start second.
In the second practice session, earlier Saturday on the 1-mile oval, Kanaan turned a lap at 180.232 mph. While it bettered the track record of 179.874 set by Greg Ray in qualifying in 2000, it does not count as an official record because it happened in practice and not in qualifying.
Castroneves had a lap of 179.800, also in the second practice session.
"I'm still learning the track," insisted Kanaan, making his debut at Pikes Peak after racing on the CART circuit the previous five years. "We made some changes after the first practice session, and obviously the car was pretty good.
Found bumps
"But this place isn't easy at all. It's very fast, with bumps that can trick you. I almost got caught in the morning session out of Turn 1 because I hit a bump I wasn't expecting."
Felipe Giaffone posted a top lap of 179.303 mph and will start third. Giaffone paced the morning practice session with a lap of 178.125.
Defending champion Gil de Ferran will start fourth after a practice lap of 179.251.
Tora Takagi, who earlier in the day was placed on probation until the end of the year and deducted 23 race points by the IRL for overly aggressive driving that caused a crash in the Bombardier 500 last week at Texas Motor Speedway, will start fifth.
Takagi had a best practice speed of 179.084. Scott Dixon will start sixth after turning a lap at 178.862.
Dario Franchitti, returning to racing after being sidelined 10 weeks with a broken vertebra in his back as a result of an off-track motorcycle accident, earned the seventh starting position at 178.650. Kenny Brack was eighth at 178.301.
Kanaan, who won at Phoenix International Raceway on March 23 and was a close second to Al Unser Jr. last weekend in Texas, predicted a "really tough, really competitive race. Traffic is going to be important. And pit stops. The person who makes the least mistakes is going to win this one."
Light rain prompted IRL officials to shorten an Infiniti Pro Series race which was scheduled to end about 30 minutes before the start of IndyCar qualifying.
Officials delayed the start of qualifying, then scrubbed it as rain intensified.
It marked the second time this season that rain forced cancellation of IRL qualifying. It also happened in Motegi, Japan, in April.
Asked if he intentionally tried to post a fast practice time because of the possibility of a rainout, Castroneves said, "Nobody expected it to rain. It's a little bit disappointing but it's not the end of the world. The points that count are [today]."