LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Ryan Briscoe reaps the one bonus point and $10,000 for claiming the pole position for the 38th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. He'll just be starting 11th in the 85-lap race April 15 (3:30 p.m. ET NBC Sports Network).

Briscoe and Team Penske teammate Will Power traded the provisional pole four times in the final two minutes of the Firestone Fast Six 10-minute shootout, with Briscoe claiming the pole with an IZOD IndyCar Series track-record lap of 1 minute, 8.6089 seconds. Power was 0.0984 of a second back.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2010 race winner for Andretti Autosport, was third in the No. 28 Team DHL/Sun Drop Citrus Soda car, while Dario Franchitti in the No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car was fourth quick. E.J. Viso and James Hinchcliffe finished fifth and sixth in the session.

Click it: Qualifying results for Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach | Preliminary starting grid

All the competitors in the Firestone Fast Six but Franchitti were driving cars powered by Chevrolet engines, and they'll incur 10-grid spot penalties because of unapproved engine changes advised by Chevrolet officials before the initial practice session April 13 on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit. Because of those circumstances, Franchitti will led the 26-car field to the green flag. 

Click it: IZOD IndyCar Series engine rules set, won't be altered

"It bites," said Briscoe, who recorded his first pole award since Chicagoland in 2010 and first on a road/street circuit since Mid-Ohio in 2009. "The important thing is we know we have a fast car and we're making the best of the situation."

Added Power, who started on the pole the past three years at Long Beach: "It was a good battle in the Fast Six; I gave it everything I had and threw down a mega lap. Qualifying was everything because you didn't want to be starting 15th or 16th. Days like tomorrow will end up being really important for the championship, just trying to get as many points as possible and work hard at strategy."

Swapping the engines was recommended as a pre-emptive measure after an issue was discovered in the No. 27 GoDaddy.com car driven by Hinchcliffe during an April 9 test at Infineon Raceway.

"Having five Chevy-powered cars in the Firestone Fast Six shows the strength of the combined Chevrolet team," Chevrolet IZOD IndyCar Series program manager Chris Berube said. "They rose to the challenge of the engine change as well as limited practice due to the weather issues on Friday. 
 
"The decision to change all 11 engines was based on what we learned earlier this week and we felt obligated to act on it. We were not certain something would happen during the race, but we wanted to preserve the show, and decided it was in the best interest of all our Chevy teams, and the Long Beach Grand Prix to swap the engines out beforehand, knowing the grid penalty will be difficult to overcome in the race.
 
"Congratulations to Ryan Briscoe on winning the pole. We support the engine change-out rules that are in place in the IZOD IndyCar Series and look forward to watching our Chevrolet drivers put on a great race for the fans as they work their way through the field."

Franchitti, the reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion who hadn't qualified for the Firestone Fast Six in the two previous races, will be joined on the front row by rookie Josef Newgarden in the No. 67 Honda-powered Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car. Newgarden was bumped from competing in his first Firestone Fast Six by Viso (by 0.0301 of a second) on the final lap of the second round.

"We wanted to qualify up front outright, but we have a good spot to start," said Newgarden, the 2011 Firestone Indy Lights champion. "I’m bummed we didn’t make it to the Fast Six because I think we had a little more speed to pull out of the car. 

"I can’t say enough about the Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing crew, because I don’t think they get enough respect. I’m going to try and win them that respect because they’re absolutely amazing."

Justin Wilson and Simon Pagenaud will share Row 2, while Scott Dixon, whose No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car experienced a transmission fire in Round 2, and Takuma Sato will be on Row 3.

"It was a really good day for the No. 18 Sonny's Bar-B-Q Honda," Wilson said. "I made a little mistake in the last qualifying session and I think it cost me advancing to the Firestone Fast Six.  The Dale Coyne Racing team has done an outstanding job giving me a great car.  We are leaps and bounds of where we were at Barber two weeks ago. 

"With all the Chevrolets ahead of us having to drop 10 spots on the grid that now puts us P3, which is a huge advantage at a track like Long Beach.  Sometimes things don't go your way and other times things are sometimes handed to you."