Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dario Franchitti again led the Honda-powered field in IZOD IndyCar Series qualifying Saturday for Sunday’s Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300, as he followed up his pole run two weeks ago at the Grand Prix of Long Beach with the third-fastest qualifying time around the 2.54-mile Sao Paulo street circuit.

Franchitti’s teammate, Scott Dixon, also advanced to the final round of IndyCar “knockout” qualifying and will start sixth, while second-round qualifiers included Justin Wilson, who will start ninth for Dale Coyne Racing, and Long Beach winner Takuma Sato, who will start 12th in his A.J. Foyt Racing Honda-Dallara.  First-round qualifying was marred by several incidents, including a crash by Tristan Vautier at the end of the Group 1 session; and a red flag early in Group 2 that prevented Simon Pagenaud from posting a representative qualifying time.

Sunday’s 75-lap race, the fourth round in the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series, starts at 11:30 a.m. EDT, with live television coverage on the NBC Sports Network.

Dario Franchitti (#10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Dallara) qualified third, his second top-three qualifying result in four races this season:  “It was a good day for us.  We made consistent progress with the car throughout the day and that’s important here, as the track changes dramatically with every session as the initial dust goes away and more and more rubber gets put down.  The team did a great job of keeping up with all the changes.  But even with a perfect lap, it would have been difficult to beat [pole qualifier] Ryan [Hunter-Reay] today.  We’re in a good position for the start, and it should be another exciting race here tomorrow.”