Bourdais on provisional Elkhart pole

The Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing driver spent most of the session over one second clear of his rivals, and only a late effort from Will Power prevented a whitewash from the Formula One-bound champion.

Power's Team Australia car was an impressive 0.3 seconds clear of Neel Jani's PKV Racing entry, while Dan Clarke put the controversy of San Jose behind him to nose clear of fellow Britons Justin Wilson (RSPORTS) - and Ryan Dalziel.

The Pacific Coast Motorsports driver, who missed the last round due to his fractured collarbone, played down the pain and nailed a brilliant lap to get ahead of such stars as championship aspirant Robert Doornbos, and Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver Graham Rahal.

Oriol Servia was 10th fastest, a full second clear of Forsythe Championship Racing teammate Paul Tracy who believes his car could not be much worse.

Theories abound that today's session may prove the faster of the qualifying sessions, given that it was run in the cooler temperatures of 5.30-6.30pm. If the sultry conditions of mid-afternoon are replicated in tomorrow afternoon's more conventional qualifying slot, the track is likely to yield less grip.

Pos  Driver              Team                   Time
 1.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman/Haas/Lanigan    1:42.385
 2.  Will Power          Team Australia         1:43.116  +0.731
 3.  Neel Jani           PKV Racing             1:43.417  +1.032
 4.  Dan Clarke          Minardi Team USA       1:43.439  +1.054
 5.  Justin Wilson       RSPORTS                1:43.525  +1.140
 6.  Ryan Dalziel        Pacific Coast          1:43.611  +1.226
 7.  Robert Doornbos     Minardi Team USA       1:43.619  +1.234
 8.  Simon Pagenaud      Team Australia         1:43.637  +1.252
 9.  Alex Tagliani       RSPORTS                1:43.689  +1.304
10.  Oriol Servia        Forsythe Championship  1:43.710  +1.325
11.  Graham Rahal        Newman/Haas/Lanigan    1:43.732  +1.347
12.  Tristan Gommendy    PKV Racing             1:44.032  +1.647
13.  Jan Heylen          Conquest Racing        1:44.295  +1.910
14.  Bruno Junqueira     Dale Coyne Racing      1:44.326  +1.941
15.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe Championship  1:44.716  +2.331
16.  Alex Figge          Pacific Coast          1:45.432  +3.047
17.  Katherine Legge     Dale Coyne Racing      1:46.901  +4.516