Castroneves' third straight IndyCar pole

FONTANA, Calif., Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Helio Castroneves captured the pole for Sunday's Toyota Indy 400 by posting a time of 33.1067 seconds (217.479 m.p.h.) on the two-mile speedway.

The pole victory was his third consecutive, fourth of the season and eighth of his IndyCar career.

Starting on the front row with the Brazilian will be the defending series champion Scott Dixon (33.2869).

Sam Hornish Jr. (33.3237) and Darren Manning (33.3608) qualified for the second row. However, Manning crashed in turn two of his second qualifying lap and was transported to the Loma Linda University Medical Center for observation. He was complaining of back pain.

If he gets a medical release in time to race, he will likely start his backup car at the back of the field with series points leader Tony Kanaan.