Local hero Will Power has given his home state fans something to cheer about setting the fastest time in qualifying for Sunday’s Gold Coast Indy 300. It’ll be a trans-tasman showdown with series champion and 2008 Indy 500 winner New Zealand’s Scott Dixon alongside Power on the front row.

In a qualifying session hit by showers, Power timed his run perfectly to beat the Kiwi star to the pole by almost a full second.

“It was quite a difficult session, to be honest.” said Power. “ I went out there and half the track was wet and half the track was dry. It was a matter of getting through each round and in the last round it was all dry. It was back to what I knew quite well. On the last lap, I backed off out and made sure I got a good run in. I’m very happy for the team. We turned up with a pretty good car out of the box and the guys did great work. Hopefully we can get it done this weekend, because that’s what we’ve been trying to do for the last three years.“

Despite his third successive pole at the race Power has never won and he realises that with Indy Racing League bosses keen to drop the Aussie round that this may well be his last chance.

“I’ve been in this position three years in a row and luck hasn’t gone my way, so I really want to make it work tomorrow,“ he told reporters after qualifying.

“Hopefully we can get it done this year because that’s what we’ve been trying to do for the last three years.“

Power is one of two Australian drivers in the race with Sydney’s Ryan Briscoe starting the race in third place to make it an antipodean lockout of the first three places.

“It was good fun out there.” he said. ”I was a bit nervous when the rain came down – it’s never fun going down a street course in the wet – it’s pretty daunting…  At the end when we finally made it to the Fast 6, the track was just getting dry and it was the first time we were able to put a good lap together… I rubbed the wall a few times, but I’m happy where we’re starting tomorrow.”

Coming out of fourth place in his return to openwheeler competition is Scotsman Dario Franchitti. After 12 months concentrating on NASCAR racing Franchitti showed he’d lost none of his Formula car finesses being quick from the first session out.

“As for my day, it’s been pretty good. First practice was OK, but then the rain came and I thought it was going to be a bit of a challenge because I haven’t driven in an IndyCar (Series car) in the wet for hell knows how long. It seemed to work OK. It was dry for the first half of the lap, so I thought, let’s go to slicks here. I went tearing into Turn 7 and it was completely wet and I almost stuck it in the fence… The car was awesome and the Target boys did a hell of a job preparing the car. It’s gone a lot better than I expected.“ he said.

Things were tougher for many of the series oval track regulars with star driver Danica Patrick failing to complete a single lap in qualifying forcing her to start from the rear of the grid.

The all Australasian front row will be a huge relief for organisers trying to get main stream attention for a race that everyone knows is little more than an exhibition. With Indy car bosses reiterating their demands that the race move or be dropped many locals see what was the main event as now just an excuse to queue up for more Beer and Bourbon ’till the V8 Supercars hit the track.