Bourdais on overnight pole

The Frenchman set a blistering 1m15.978s lap in the final 15 minute session reserved for the fastest 10 qualifiers, almost a full second clear of the rest, led by Newman-Haas teammate Bruno Junqueira. The Brazilian, fresh from his Indy 500 programme, set a best lap of 1m16.881s. But in the pre-qualifying session, Junqueira had set the quickest lap of the day with a 1m15.834s. Under the new rules, that would count for nothing, and Bruno wasn't happy, and quickly offered his opionion of the new format...

"I think the new qualifying system is bad," he said. "None of the fans here understand, and I think Champ Car doesn't respect the fans. A lot of bad things are happening with this system, but the worst thing is that when they said what they wanted to do, a lot of teams and a lot of drivers said they didn't like it and they didn't listen to us. They just told us to say good things to the press.

"It's very frustrating, because I think last year's rules were really good and we had great racing. They didn't need to change anything, but they have no respect for the fans. I certainly don't expect any change. Maybe if the drivers complain enough to the press they will finally realize there is a problem. They might as well have Bozo the Clown making the rules."

Bourdais, happy with his championship point, but frustrated not to have a guaranteed front row starting position as he would have done in Long Beach was a bit more circumspect than his teammate: "The car has been very good since we first put it on the track this morning. It's just a shame that we are not guaranteed a front row position..."

Third fastest, and top rookie, was Britain's Justin Wilson on 1m16.983s. Wilson has been right on the pace since the opening session, and is happy with his performance so far, but hopes for more tomorrow.

"Generally I am very happy with our results," said Wilson. "The second session went well also, however, it was a little difficult with the red flag coming out towards the end. We still have something to work on for tomorrow, but I'm confident we will have a good car."

Alex Tagliani and local hero Mario Dominguez completed the top five, but in truth much of the talk was about the complex new qualifying procedure. Paul Tracy was one to suffer the most, the Canadian spinning out in the final 15 minute "Top 10" finale. With the drivers needing a couple of laps to get the tyres up to temperature, there was hardly enough time to set a competitive lap after Tracy's spin caused a red flag.

"I'm not happy with today," said the reigning champion. "We generally need to improve the car. The track was changing and we didn't keep up with it. I made a mistake and spun. We will just have to regroup and go again tomorrow."

Michel Jourdain Jr was another to fall foul of the red flags, having to abort his two best laps, leaving his best some three seconds off the pace.

Final qualifying takes place on Saturday.



1, Sebastien Bourdais, Newman-Haas, 1m15.978s
2, Bruno Junqueira, Newman-Haas, 1m16.881s
3, Justin Wilson, Conquest, 1m16.983s
4, Alex Tagliani, Rocketsports, 1m17.503s
5, Mario Dominguez, Herdez, 1m17.799s
6, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Herdez, 1m17.940s
7, Patrick Carpentier, Forsythe, 1m18.563
8, Michel Jourdain Jr, RuSport,1m19.136s