Paul Tracy, returning to the series this weekend, should also have had a chance of making the final Fast Six session, but a rookie error - which saw him pass the chequer twice in his first phase outing - saw him stripped of his best time, dropping to eighth in group as a result.
As a result, the Fast Six was divided equally between IRL regulars and Champ Car converts, with Briscoe and Castroneves being joined by current points leader Scott Dixon, and Wilson by KV Racing Technology pair Will Power and Oriol Servia.
Briscoe was first on track, opening with a 1min 00.7917secs effort before working his way down to the eventual pole time. Castroneves then traded second spot with both Dixon and Servia before consolidating Penske's front row. Dixon had moved into second place with a lap of 1min 00.8585secs, only to see Servia go 0.0001secs faster almost immediately. Castroneves trumped the pair, however, and their final efforts would not trouble the Brazilian.
“We had a great day today - Team Penske did an awesome job putting together another front row sweep," Castroneves said, "I would have liked to start on the pole position, but Ryan did a great job. We were pushing out there, and I could see everyone else was pushing too, but I think it's better to play catch up. People have a number to go for, so they take some chances and they may be able to beat it in one lap.
"In the last session, the second group had just finished running and they were still hot, so I was just trying to make the most of the opportunity. It was just one of those laps where you don't want to make a mistake, so I pushed to a certain limit. It just wasn't good enough for pole.”
Power, meanwhile, was never a threat, struggling - and failing - to get down below the 1min 01secs mark as he headed to fifth place, sharing row three with the absent Wilson.
