INDIANAPOLIS (Indiana's Newscenter) - Ryan Briscoe claimed the pole Saturday for 96th running of the Indianapolis 500 by the closest margin in the history of qualifying for the event.

Briscoe's four lap time of 2 minutes, 38.9514 seconds at an average speed of 226.484 mph in the 90 minute shootout for the top nine qualifiers topped the time of 2 minutes 38.9537 and 226.481 mph done by James Hinchcliffe, who wil start second.

The time differential of 0.0023 of a second is the equivalent of 9.168 inches over four laps, easily the closest margin ever in qualifying.

Ryan Hunter-Reay grabbed the third front row spot.

The lineup for the first eight rows:. 1. (2) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:38.9514 ( 226.484)

2. (27) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:38.9537 ( 226.481)

3. (28) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:39.1233 ( 226.240)

4. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara- Chevrolet, 02:40.6766 ( 225.456)

5. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:39.7004 (225.422)

6. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:39.8780 (225.172)

7. (67) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 02:40.6879 (224.037)

8. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:40.1775 (224.751)

9. (5) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:40.4119 ( 224.422)

10. (8) Rubens Barrichello, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:40.5253 ( 224.264)

11. (98) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 02:40.7144 ( 224.000)

12. (38) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 02:40.7437 ( 223.959)

13. (25) Ana Beatriz, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:40.7720 ( 223.920)

14. (83) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 02:40.8093 ( 223.868)

15. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 02:40.9413 ( 223.684)

16. (50) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 02:41.0144 ( 223.582)

17. (19) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 02:41.0866 ( 223.482)

18. (4) JR Hildebrand, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:41.1299 ( 223.422)

19. (15) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 02:41.1517 ( 223.392)

20. (99) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 02:41.3377 ( 223.134)

21. (18) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 02:41.4865 ( 222.929)

22. (30) Michel Jourdain, Dallara-Honda, 02:41.5124 ( 222.893)

23. (77) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 02:41.5138 ( 222.891)

24. (17) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevrolet, 02:41.5720 ( 222.811)