Newgarden beats Dixon to Toronto IndyCar pole

Josef Newgarden surged to his fourth pole position of the Verizon IndyCar Series season after topping qualifying in Toronto on Saturday, edging out title rival Scott Dixon by almost two-tenths of a second.

Defending IndyCar champion Newgarden entered the Toronto race weekend trailing Dixon by 33 points at the top of the drivers' standings but was able to get the upper hand on Saturday at Exhibition Place amid mixed weather conditions, with the track drying out towards the end of the session.

Despite only finishing fifth in the first stage of qualifying and fourth in the second heats, Penske driver Newgarden was able to recover to the head of the timesheets in the final six-car shootout for pole, leading the way with a fastest time of 59.4956s.

Newgarden overcame Dixon with his final lap of the session, dethroning the Chip Ganassi Racing driver to finish 0.1964s clear, with Penske teammates Simon Pagenaud and Will Power following in P3 and P4 respectively.

Andretti Autosport drivers Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay both made it through to the final stage of qualifying, but could only finish fifth and sixth respectively.

Practice pace-setter Takuma Sato missed out on a place in the Fast Six shootout by two-tenths of a second, qualifying seventh for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing ahead of Jordan King in eighth for Ed Carpenter Racing. Schmidt Peterson Motorsports drivers James Hinchcliffe and Robert Wickens rounded out the top 10 in P9 and P10 respectively.

Upon his return to the series with Harding Racing, Conor Daly clinched P11 on the grid ahead of Matheus Leist, who was the slowest runner in the second part of qualifying, ending the day 12th.