Ryan Briscoe set an event record lap of 1 minute, 06.6814 seconds to claim the PEAK Performance Pole Award for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance on Aug. 9.

Briscoe, who won the race last year in the No. 6 Team Penske car, will be joined on the front row by Justin Wilson (1:06.7007) in the No. 18 Z-Lines Design car for Dale Coyne Racing. Reigning IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon will start third in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, while Ohio-native Graham Rahal will share Row 2 after a quick lap of 1:07.0640 in the Firestone Fast Six shootout in the No. 02 McDonald's car for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing.

Helio Castroneves, who started from the pole in 2007 and '08 in the No. 3 Team Penske car, will be on Row 3 with Dario Franchitti.

Also on Aug. 8, James Davison collected his second pole start of the season - on the course he won last year. The Vision Racing driver recorded a quick lap of 1 minute, 14.8673 seconds. James Hinchcliffe will start alongside the Australian in the front row.

DAY 2 NOTEBOOK:

Dale Coyne Racing's transporter showed up to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a new look. In honor of the team's first win at Watkins Glen in July, Coyne had the transporter outfitted with a new vinyl wrap design that includes a large photo of the entire team, including Justin Wilson's daughter Jane, celebrating in Victory Lane.

"The trailer was looking old and tattered and we knew a wrap would freshen it up," team owner Dale Coyne said. "We've been meaning to wrap it but it's been a busy schedule and we haven't been in the shop long enough to do it. After Watkins Glen, we thought it would be a good tribute to the team and everybody that's been with us to do one like this. I've never seen one like this and I don't think anyone has. So, we came up with this idea and put the design together and got it done."

According to Coyne, the photo honors not just the current team members, but every person that has worked for Coyne over the years. The transporter will keep its current look for the remainder of the season.

Good memories for Rahal

Bobby Rahal made 16 starts (1983-98) at Mid-Ohio, posting eight top-three finishes (including the 1985 and '86 victories). In 2005, Graham Rahal raced in the Formula Atlantic class and won the same national title that his father claimed 30 years earlier in the SCCA National Run-offs.

"Getting to do a home race is quite exciting," said Rahal, who's driving the No. 02 McDonald's car for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing. "Growing up, I came to Mid-Ohio and the Cleveland street course, which were the two closest courses for me. When I would go to dad's races, I used to always take all my buddies. I have a lot of fun memories and this is only my second Indy car race here, but I've raced several other times at this place. It's a circuit that means a lot to my family and to me. To do well there would mean quite a lot because I have a lot of friends and family who are coming here for that event, so to do well in front of them shows that I'm no slouch."

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Heading into the race weekend, 19 drivers are mathematically (all within 265 points of leader Briscoe) in contention for the IndyCar Series championship.  … The Vision Racing Wellness Tour, supported by team sponsor Lilly USA, will offer spectators Aug. 9 (9 a.m.-3 p.m.) free diabetes screenings and cholesterol and blood pressure testing.  … Over the past month, 45 owners of Honda S2000s from Columbus, Ohio, Cincinnati and Dayton have been promoting the Honda Indy 200 presented by Westfield Insurance with signs on their cars. 

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FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS POST-QUALIFYING NOTES

This is James Davison's second pole position this season and his third career pole. His last pole came at Watkins Glen last month. James Hinchcliffe qualified second, matching his season best start. He also had front row starts at Long Beach and Toronto. J.R. Hildebrand qualified third, his 12th consecutive top -10 start.

FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES

JAMES DAVISON (No. 21 People*s Liberation/Vision Racing, polesitter): "I just wanted to do the same thing as I did in Watkins Glen on Friday, and I did a P1 in both sessions. That was a difficult session with changing track conditions. Obviously it was the same for everybody. I'm really happy to get that on paper. Thank you very much to my team, the No. 21 People's Liberation/Vision crew. They've given me everything I need, and we're getting the job done. We've done everything but win a race this year and that's what I'm doing tomorrow."

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 7 Hinchtown/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, qualified second): "It was obviously, an interesting session with the way the weather started and then I actually had a penalty and had to sit out the first 10 minutes. It actually sort of worked in my favor. I got to sit there as everyone else dried up the track. Then, we got out there and the car was really strong right off the bat and we were one of the first guys to go out there on the sticker tires and sent in a really good time early. With five minutes to go we were first, four minutes to go, three minutes to go we were first and then just as that yellow came out, Davison managed to put in a quick lap. It's a bit of a heartbreaker because we wanted a quick one too when that yellow came out. But, we know we're there or thereabouts but it's another front row start. It would have been nice to have the pole but I need a good start tomorrow and to stay consistent in the race."

J.R. HILDEBRAND (#26 ARPRO, qualified third): "I feel OK. The session was hit or miss depending on when you were on track. The track was hard to get used to. It was really wet when we first went out and then dry at the end of the session.  Assuming it's dry tomorrow, we will be able to work with the car in the actual conditions at the time.  I know there is some left in me and some left in the car, so we should be strong come tomorrow." 

PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE QUALIFYING NOTES:

This is Ryan Briscoe's third PEAK Performance Pole Award of the season and the seventh pole of his IndyCar Series career. His most recent pole came at Watkins Glen in July. Justin Wilson qualified second, matching his season-best start. He also had front row starts at St. Petersburg and Watkins Glen. Dario Franchitti remains the only driver to have qualified for every Firestone Fast Six session this season. PEAK PERFORMANCE POLE QUALIFYING QUOTES:

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, PEAK Performance Pole Award winner): "Mid-Ohio has treated Team Penske well. It's a lot of fun around this track. It's been tricky conditions so far with the rain and some patches in the corner.  It changes the balance of the car from corner to corner. The red Firestones in final qualifying were awesome. A lot of grip, and as usual, a lot of fun to drive. The team has a lot of history here. We love the track. All the credit to the engineers and mechanics at Team Penske. They give us a fantastic car to drive and make my job a whole lot easier."

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 18 Z-Line Designs, qualified second): "It went well. The car was working well and everyone on the team has done a great job. I was hoping we could get the Z-line Design Furniture car on the front row, if not the pole, and we missed it by a fraction. That's frustrating, to know that your that close and it didn't quite happen. This is hopefully a repeat of Watkins Glen."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, qualified third): "It was alright. We set the overall fast time, but are starting third so it's frustrating. It just shows that the qualifying now is time management and strategy. I'm happy with the speed of the car. We definitely have the speed to win. We've just got to try to jump another few cars, which is going to be tough on this track.

GRAHAM RAHAL: (No. 02 McDonald's Racing Team, qualified fourth): "The McDonalds car felt pretty good all day. We were just trying to squeeze as much out of those red tires as we could. It took us a little while, that's for sure, to get to that point but I think at the end it felt pretty good. We didn't have new reds and some of the other guys did and we were just lacking that little bit. If we had a little more grip, I think we could have been awfully close to pole. That's what I would have loved, obviously, with this being my hometown but that's how it goes."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske, qualified fifth): "I don't think I would have been able to more than I did. It's a shame because we wanted to be on the front row like last year, but Ryan did a great job (pole). He saved a new set (of Firestone alternate tires) for the last qualifying, which paid off for him. We do have a very good car; it seems to be very close and it should be a lot of fun."

DARIO FRANCHITTI (Target Chip Ganassi Racing, qualified sixth): "We're missing just a little bit on the road courses right now. The street courses have been good, so we have to keep working on that. I think we have a good race car. It seems to work OK on the (primary Firestone tires). I'm a little disappointed; we've made every (Firestone) Fast Six this year but we need to move up in it."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 14 ABC Supply/A.J Foyt Racing, qualified seventh): "We worked together well as a team this weekend , we made the ABC Supply car better from yesterday to today. We made the right changes on it. I did the driving and A.J. did the right changes and together we got it up to 7th. I wish we could have made the fast six cause it was close but that's how it goes. We're glad to get the team its best start this year and now we can work on getting its best finish."

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven, qualified eighth): "We have been working really hard to turn this situation around and we are making small steps. If you look back to Edmonton, we started 17th and 18th; this weekend we have four cars in the top 12.  I was disappointed because I thought we had a chance at making the Fast Six, but the other teams made better progress throughout the sessions that we are able to.

E.J. VISO (No. 13 PDVSA/HVM Racing, qualified ninth): "We had a pretty good qualifying effort.  I'm very happy that every session we went out, we went a step forward.  There's definitely an improvement in the car.  I used the maximum out of what I had in my hands, and that's pretty good for me and for the team. From here, we have a pretty good base and we just need to start working a little harder in order to get into the third round of qualifying.  It's another four or five tenths that we need, and those are the difficult ones."

PAUL TRACY (No. 5 Azul Tequila/Votorantim/KVRT, qualified 10th): "The Azul/Votorantim/ KV Racing Technology team had an OK qualifying session. It's just super competitive out there. We made it into the top-12. I didn't think we would advance into the Firestone Fast Six, but I thought we would be in the top-10 and we ended up 10th. We still need to do some work on the car to make it better for the race.  I want to thank Mario again for this opportunity. I just want to have a good race tomorrow for him and his family."

SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE6:30 a.m.            Garage open

8 - 8:20 a.m.      Firestone Indy Lights warmup

8:45 - 9:15 a.m. IndyCar Series warmup

10 a.m.   Firestone Indy Lights Mid-Ohio 100 pre-race

10:15 a.m.          Firestone Indy Lights Mid-Ohio (40 laps/90 miles), (Versus, 4 p.m. Aug. 10)

1 p.m.     Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio pre-race

1:45 p.m.Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio (85/192 miles), Live (VERSUS, 1 p.m.)