James Hinchcliffe will start 2nd in tomorrow Long Beach Grand Prix. (Photo-Richard Dowdy/IndyCar)

Long Beach, California - Ryan Hunter-Reay qualified second for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in 2010, '11 and '13 with one victory to represent the efforts. On April 13, he'll start the 40th annual race on the temporary street circuit from the inside of the front row.

Hunter-Reay earned the Verizon P1 Award by pipping Andretti Autosport teammate James Hinchcliffe on his final lap of the Firestone Fast Six session with a lap of 1 minute, 7.8219 seconds on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn course. Hinchcliffe, driving the No. 27 United Fiber & Data car, was .1184 of a second back after completing the 10-minute session.

"It just comes down to this team giving me what I need when I need it," said Hunter-Reay, who registered his sixth Indy car pole and the 30th for Andretti Autosport in the No. 28 DHL car. "What a qualifying session. You never knew who was going to put in the best lap; it was anybody's session. It's a good start for us, but tomorrow is going to be challenging. We have the standing start and a long day on the beach. We've been on the outside pole so many times here and final got the big one."

Five teams were represented in the Firestone Fast Six, and 1-6 were separated by .2513 of a second.

"The United Fiber & Data car has been quick all weekend in practice," Hinchcliffe said. "You never know what's going to happen when you put on those Firestone Reds, though, especially when you only drive them for the first time here in qualifying. The guys did a great job - the car was awesome. I haven't been in a ton of these Firestone Fast Sixes, and I'm learning what to do on the second stint on the Firestone Reds so that's a good trade. For us to be front row, I'm happy about, but I'm looking for that first pole. I've been so close so many times, but if you're going to lose it, I'm glad it's to a teammate, so congrats to Ryan (Hunter-Reay)."

Sebastien Bourdais, a three-time winner of the race, held the provisional pole with a minute left in the session in the No. 11 Mistic KVSH Racing car. He'll occupy Row 2 with third-year Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing driver Josef Newgarden. Rookie Jack Hawksworth, driving the No. 98 Charter/Castrol Edge car for BHA/BBM with Curb Agajanian, and Simon Pagenaud in the No. 77 Charter Communications car for Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports qualified on Row 3.

Will Power, a three-time pole sitter and two-time winner at Long Beach, had his streak of qualifying in the top 10 on road and street circuits end at 10 when he was .0191 of a second behind Hawkswoth in Group 2 of Session 1. Power, who won the season opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., after starting fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, will start 14th. Takuma Sato, who won the 2013 race, incurred a qualifying interference penalty in Session 1 (negating his quickest two laps) and will start 15th.

DAY 2 NOTEBOOK:

Townsend Bell recorded his best Indianapolis 500 finish of fourth in 2009 with KV Racing Technology. The veteran driver will rejoin the team co-owned by Jimmy Vasser and Kevin Kalkhoven for the 98th running of the 500-Mile Race on May 25 in the Chevrolet-powered No. 6 car with American-based clothier Robert Graham as the primary sponsor.

It will be the eighth start in "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" for Bell, a California native who will join Paul Tracy as analysts on NBCSN's telecast April 13 of the 40th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. He's earned three top-10 finishes, with a best starting spot of fourth in 2011.

"In 2001, Jimmy was my teammate in my first Champ Car event and in 2009 I had my best finish in Indy racing with KVRT, so coming back to the defending Indy 500 champions is special," said Bell, 38. "I will be working with one of my favorite engineers, Gerald Tyler, so that is also a big plus. I want to express my gratitude to Robert Graham for their support."

Bell sported a Robert Graham fedora at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway last May.

KV Racing Technology won its first Indianapolis 500 last year with Tony Kanaan behind the wheel of the No. 11 car. Next month, four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais will drive the No. 11 Hydroxycut/Mistic E-Cigs KVSH Racing car on the 2.5-mile oval. Sebastian Saavedra, like Bourdais a full-season Verizon IndyCar Series entrant, drives the No. 17 KV AFS Racving car.

"Townsend is a proven talent who will provide valuable experience and knowledge to the team during the Month of May," said Kalkhoven, who on April 10 was inducted into the Long Beach Motorsports Walk of Fame. "I also want to welcome and thank Robert Graham for joining our effort."

The Speedway opens for practice May 11 (a day after the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis), with qualifications May 17-18.

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E.J. Viso has a dual purpose at Long Beach this weekend - being competitive in his first Stadium Super Trucks race on the street circuit and working on a return to Verizon IndyCar Series competition.

"I've never driven anything in the air except for the curbs in Baltimore," Viso said of the series owned by former Indy car driver Robby Gordon in which the off-road trucks navigate the tight corners and ramps. "Robby called a few days ago and invited me to the race. It's a good program he's put together; fans love it."

Viso, who's made 100 starts over six seasons in the Verizon IndyCar Series, said he's hopeful of initially securing a ride for the 98th Indianapolis 500 on May 25.

"I'm working hard with my sponsors to come back into the series," said Viso, who had a best finish of fourth at Milwaukee in 2013 with Andretti Autosport.

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VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES PRACTICE #3

At 9:45 a.m., the ambient temperature was 61 degrees with a relative humidity of 69 percent and winds from the east-northeast at 3 mph. Skies were fair. The track temperature was 83 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.

10 a.m. - GREEN.

10:45 - CHECKERED.

FASTEST TIMES/SPEEDS OF SESSION:

QUALIFYING FOR THE VERIZON P1 AWARD:

Qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award consists of three segments. In Segment One of qualifying, each group receives 10 minutes of track time. The fastest six cars from each group advance to Segment Two, while the remaining cars are assigned positions 13-26. Group One drivers will occupy the odd-numbered positions (13, 15, 17...) while Group Two drivers will occupy the even-numbered positions (14, 16, 18...) based on their fastest lap times.

During Segment Two, the 12 advancing cars receive 10 minutes of track time. The fastest six advance to the Firestone Fast Six Shootout while the remaining six cars are ranked in positions 7-12 based on their fastest laps.

During the Firestone Fast Six, the six cars receive 10 minutes of track time, with a guarantee of five minutes of green flag time. Each car receives one additional set of Firestone Firehawk tires for use during this final segment. At the end of the session, the cars are ranked 1-6 based on their fastest laps.

Any driver who causes a red flag during any of the groups will lose their two quickest laps.

The time line for qualifying today is in Turn 11.

At 1 p.m., the ambient temperature was 63 degrees with a relative humidity of 69 percent and winds from the south at 9 mph. Skies were fair. The track temperature was 114 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.

Track record: Justin Wilson, 1:06.902 (April 2008). Fastest lap this weekend: #12 Will Power, 1:08.1696 (Practice 3).

1:15 p.m. - GREEN. Round 1. Group 1.

1:25 p.m. - CHECKERED. Advancing to Round 2 are: #11 Bourdais, #27 Hinchcliffe, #19 Wilson, #67 Newgarden, #28 Hunter-Reay, #16 Servia.

1:30 p.m. - GREEN. Round 1. Group 2.

1:40 p.m. - CHECKERED. Advancing to Round 2 are: #34 Munoz, #3 Castroneves, #9 Dixon, #77 Pagenaud, #25 Andretti, #98 Hawksworth.

1:50 p.m. - GREEN. Round 2. Group 1.

2 p.m. - CHECKERED. Advancing to Firestone Fast Six are: #11 Bourdais, #77 Pagenaud, #67 Newgarden, #28 Hunter-Reay, #98 Hawksworth, #27 Hinchcliffe.

2:10 p.m. - GREEN. Firestone Fast Six.

2:15 p.m. - With five minutes gone, fastest of the session is #77 Pagenaud at 1:09.2086

2:16 p.m. - #67 Newgarden takes P1 with lap of 1:08.8527.

2:17 p.m. - #67 Newgarden resets fastest lap with lap of 1:08.0097.

2:19 pm. -- #11 Bourdais takes P1 with a lap of 1:07.9580, then Hinchcliffe takes P1 at 1:07.9403.

2:20 p.m. - CHECKERED. #28 Hunter-Reay takes Verizon P1 Award with lap of 1:07.8219 on his final lap.

VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES POST-QUALIFYING NOTES:

Ryan Hunter-Reay claimed his first pole position of 2014 and his first pole at Long Beach. It is the sixth pole of his Indy car career and his first since winning the pole at Mid-Ohio in 2013.
Hunter-Reay qualified on front row for the fourth time in nine starts.
James Hinchcliffe qualified second, his best start at Long Beach in four starts.
Sebastien Bourdais qualified third, his best start since winning pole here in 2007.
Josef Newgarden qualified fourth, his career best qualifying performance.
Jack Hawksworth qualified for Firestone Fast Six for the first time.

VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda): "The United Fiber & Data car has been quick all weekend in practice. You never know what's going to happen when you put on those Firestone Reds, though, especially when you only drive them for the first time here in qualifying. The guys did a great job - the car was awesome. I haven't been in a ton of these Firestone Fast Sixes, and I'm learning what to do on the second stint on the Firestone Reds so that's a good trade. For us to be front row, I'm happy about, but I'm looking for that first pole. I've been so close so many times, but if you're going to lose it, I'm glad it's to a teammate, so congrats to Ryan (Hunter-Reay)."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): "It just comes down to this team giving me what I need when I need it. What a qualifying session. You never knew who was going to put in the best lap; it was anybody's session. It's a good start for us, but tomorrow is going to be challenging. We have the standing start and a long day on the beach. We've been on the outside pole so many times here and final got the big one."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Snapple Honda): "We tried a new set up, so I was sort of still learning it in qualifying - which has been a trend for us, we need to run the car that I'm going to qualifying during practice three so I know what I'm jumping in to qualify with. Today we could have run less fuel and made it in (the Firestone Fast Six). But it's still 100% doable from eighth for the Snapple team."

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 11 Mistic KVSH Racing Chevrolet): "It was fun. First of all, I really need to thank all the people at E Cigarettes with Mistic. It's been a great partnership so far. That white car is good karma. So it's good to be here and Jimmy, Kevin and Sully for putting that program together, and all the guys that did the work in the background silently keeping their heads down and making it happen for me. So all the guys at KVSH it's really been a team effort. We all thought we were going to have a shot at this after a very loaded of work winter. I really believe that it's paying off. We had a fast car in St. Pete, and we really have a fast car here. Came just a bit short, but there's always tomorrow, so we're going to keep digging, and hopefully we can make it happen tomorrow."

SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE (all times local):

9-9:30 a.m.
Verizon IndyCar Series warmup

12:30 p.m.
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach pre-race

1:50 p.m.
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach (80 laps/157.4 miles), NBCSN (Live)

Qualifying Results: