Allmendinger on provisional pole

But while one Forsythe car topped the timesheets, the other was propping them up. Allmendinger's teammate Paul Tracy, who had been fastest in opening practice, spun into the Turn 4 wall and removed his rear wing, bringing his session to an end and leaving the 2003 champion in a provisional 16th place.

With Tracy out of contention, Bourdais inevitably became Allmendinger's main threat. The championship leader seemed set to snatch provisional pole until losing time in the final sector of his best lap. Bourdais ended up 0.049 seconds adrift.

Alex Tagliani leapt up to third in the final moments, giving Team Australia something to be cheerful about after a gruelling session. He edged Justin Wilson - in the sole RuSPORT car after teammate Cristiano da Matta's horrendous testing accident - down to the outside of row two.

Bruno Junqueira and his sometime Newman/Haas substitute Oriol Servia share row three, ahead of Mario Dominguez, impressing again for Dale Coyne Racing.

Best of the rookies was Tagliani's teammate Will Power, who narrowly beat the impressive Charles Zwolsman to eighth.

Friday qualifying times:

Pos  Driver              Team                Time
 1.  AJ Allmendinger     Forsythe        1:00.714
 2.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman/Haas     1:00.763  + 0.049
 3.  Alex Tagliani       Team Australia  1:00.988  + 0.274
 4.  Justin Wilson       RuSPORT         1:00.991  + 0.277
 5.  Bruno Junqueira     Newman/Haas     1:01.141  + 0.427
 6.  Oriol Servia        PKV             1:01.302  + 0.588
 7.  Mario Dominguez     Dale Coyne      1:01.304  + 0.590
 8.  Will Power          Team Australia  1:01.587  + 0.873
 9.  Charles Zwolsman    Conquest        1:01.644  + 0.930
10.  Andrew Ranger       Conquest        1:01.724  + 1.010
11.  Nelson Philippe     CTE-HVM         1:01.767  + 1.053
12.  Katherine Legge     PKV             1:01.777  + 1.063
13.  Jan Heylen          Dale Coyne      1:02.502  + 1.788
14.  Dan Clarke          CTE-HVM         1:02.706  + 1.992
15.  Nicky Pastorelli    Rocketsports    1:04.251  + 3.537
16.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe        1:05.531  + 4.817