Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter Reay scored his first pole since Long Beach in 2014 after snatching pole position away from championship leader Scott Dixon on his final run in the Fast 6 for the final race of the season in Sonoma.
Initially it looked like Dixon would earn his first pole of the season around the Californian circuit and posting a 1:17:759, however, in the dying moments of the session Hunter-Reay in his #28 DHL machine crossed the line over a tenth quicker to deny the Kiwi what could be an important championship point which is handed out for pole position.
Going into Sunday's race, Dixon will remain 29 points clear of Alexander Rossi and will line-up on the outside of the front row in the #9 PNC Bank Ganassi with his other three title contenders behind him on the grid.
Reigning champion Josef Newgarden battled hard to put his #1 Penske entry into the Fast 6 after starting the weekend with a bout of food poisoning. Being 87 points behind Dixon in the championship, the American does face an outside shot at retaining his crown but is in a strong position to force the issue should any problems arise for Dixon.
Marco Andretti put on one of his best performances since the Detroit Grand Prix in June and will line up fourth for Sunday's race, taking up the outside slot on the grid next to Newgarden on row two.
Indy Lights champion Patricio O'Ward stunned the IndyCar paddock once again with another superb effort on his debut weekend in the series, placing his #8 Harding car in fifth place.
Rossi was only able to take up the final slot in the Fast 6 after only going on the Firestone Blacks in the session, potentially saving a set of the faster red tyres for the race in order to have a strategic advantage over Dixon during the 85 laps of the Sonoma GP.
Will Power was the only championship contender who was surprisingly knocked out of the Fast 6 in the #12 Verizon Penske entry after failing to get a strong lap together to make it into the final part of qualifying.
Alongside the Australian on the fourth row will be Penske team-mate Simon Pagenaud who is still looking for his first win of the year, but will likely be left in the support role for Power and Newgarden given their points gap to Dixon.
Graham Rahal and Zach Veach will head up the fifth row ahead of former champion Sebastien Bourdais and Portland race winner Takuma Sato to round out the top 12.
