By alley - Jun 1, 2014, 11:01 AM ET

IndyCar: Sato finds groove, takes pole for Belle Isle race 2

After a miserable Saturday, where he qualified 15th and finished 18th after gearbox troubles, Sato put a smile on owner A.J. Foyt's face with a blistering lap of 1:16.13 in the ABC Supply Dallara-Honda. It was just two-hundred thousandths quicker than Castroneves' best of 1:16.36 in the Hitachi Dallara-Chevrolet and three-hundreds better than James Hinchcliffe's 1:16.37 in the United Fiber & Data Dallara-Honda.

"I gotta be honest, I wasn't really paying attention to Taku. I was worried about Helio and I was gutted to lose by such a small margin – until Sato blew everyone away so that made it not hurt so bad," said Hinchcliffe, who will start second for the fifth time in 2014.

In winning the third pole of his Verizon IndyCar series career, Sato is hoping to turn around his season.

"Struggled a lot yesterday but we used it as a test day and my team and engineer did a great job," said Sato. "I timed it right today and I ran as hard as I could on that last lap so it's really a good feeling for our team."

Mike Conway, who finished first and third a year ago, bounced back from his Saturday accident to qualify fourth in the Fuzzy's Dallara-Chevrolet while Ryan Briscoe posted the fifth best time for the second straight day in his NTT Data Dallara-Chevrolet.

Will Power, who came from 16th to win Saturday's 70-lap opener, lines up eighth in the Verizon Dallara-Chevrolet.
The last two IndyCar champions, Scott Dixon and Ryan Hunter-Reay, will start in the last row after Dixon finished last in the first group and RHR pounded the wall for the second straight day in his DHL Dallara-Honda.