DETROIT -- It's a pair of firsts for the second race of the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans.

Mike Conway, driving the No. 18 Sonny's car, earned his first IZOD IndyCar Series pole and gave Dale Coyne Racing its maiden series pole start in qualifications for the 70-lap race June 2 (3:30 p.m. ET on ABC).

Conway, who took over the seat after Ana Beatriz filled it for the initial five races of the season, recorded a quick lap of 1 minute, 18.0977 seconds with 55 seconds left in the 12-minute session on the 2.346-mile, 13-turn street course.

Drivers participated in one of two groups, with five minutes of guaranteed green-flag time. Group 1 consisted of odd-numbered positions on the May 31 practice time sheet, while even-numbered positions comprised Group 2.

Click it: Race 2 qualification results || Race 1 starting lineup

The Verizon P1 Award was awarded to the best overall lap time in the two sessions. James Jakes posted the quickest lap in Group 1 (1:18.1704) in the No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He'll also start on the front row -- an IZOD IndyCar Series career high through 37 races. The remainder of the cars in the pole sitter’s group will occupy the odd-numbered starting grid positions, starting with third. Cars from Group 1 will occupy the even-numbered starting grid positions.

 

Conway, making his 55th IZOD IndyCar Series start, previously had a best qualifying result of second at Barber Motorsports Park in 2010 and Baltimore in 2012.

"We just had to hang out and see what we had and it was enough for pole," Conway said. "Excellent job by all the guys at the team at Dale Coyne for making this happen. We couldn’t have asked for much more coming into this weekend."

Teammate Justin Wilson, who has provided Dale Coyne Racing its two series victories, will start eighth in the No. 19 Boy Scouts of America entry. He also had the team's most recent best starting position of second at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2009.

“This is great to get our first pole,” Coyne said. “We have had many front-row performances, but I am thankful for Mike bringing us our first pole. Maybe a yellow Sonny’s car is good luck.”

Jakes, who competed for Dale Coyne Racing the previous two seasons, switched to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing this year as a teammate to Graham Rahal. In the 1992 Indy car race on Belle Isle, team co-owner Bobby Rahal started second and went on to win the race.

"I think we would have had a shot at pole if our session hadn't been cut short (by a red flag for the stalled car of Alex Tagliani between Turns 4-5 with 3:30 left in the session)," Jakes said. "In a way it's good, but it's still a little disappointing to miss out on pole. Going to have to find which hotel Conway is staying so I can high jack his room tonight. He keeps on spoiling the party. But no, congratulations to those guys they've been strong all weekend."

Dario Franchitti earned the Verizon P1 Award for Race 1 (3:30 p.m. ET today on ABC) through the regular three rounds of qualifications for street/road courses, but will start 11th in the No. 10 Suave car for Target Chip Ganassi Racing because of an unapproved engine change carried over from the Indianapolis 500. Conway qualified third and will start second. Jakes qualified fourth and will start third.

 

A driver who sweeps the weekend races will receive the $50,000 SONAX Perfect Finish Award. If no one wins both races at Belle Isle, the prize fund carries over to Toronto in mid-July ($100,000). If no one wins both of those races, the Houston doubleheader in early October will be worth $150,000.