Auto racing IRL Series will introduce a Formula One-style knock-out qualifying format for road and street courses this season, beginning at St Petersburg IRL event this weekend.

The series will continue to use single-car qualifying on ovals, but will run two group sessions for 20 minutes each on Saturday afternoons, with the fastest six cars from each progressing to the next stage. The rest of the cars will line up according to their times in the group sessions.

The remaining 12 cars will enter a 15-minute session with the quicker half advancing to the Fast Six Shootout, while seventh to 12th will fill those positions on the grid in order of their times from that session.
The final six cars will then have a 10-minute session to compete for pole position.

Indy Racing League president of operations Brian Barnhart is confident that the F1-style format will make qualifying more exciting for spectators.

"Qualifying for our road and street courses has been full of drama ever since we introduced the Fast Six concept in 2005," he said. "Expanding the group format into several stages will add to the intrigue and strategy and will keep fans entertained throughout."