Bourdais steals Toronto pole

The Frenchman lapped in 58.558secs on Saturday, two-tenths quicker than team-mate Bruno Junqueira, who will start third. Tracy will start on the front row by dint of being quickest on Friday.

Bourdais, who lost the provisional pole to Tracy Friday by just 0.003sec, attributed his pole lap to good timing as much as anything else.

"I think when we tried the first time, the track was pretty much at its best," said Bourdais, "and I think I've been able to put like three laps in a row very clean and clear and just building at the speed, and that's working pretty well with these tyres. You know, I'm just glad that the set-up was pretty correct."

Tracy said: "This afternoon's qualifying was a little frustrating. The car was quicker than yesterday, but the changes we'd made this morning after practice made the it harder to drive. Obviously, it was a fantastic lap by Sebastien and we weren't close enough to it. But we got the job done on Friday, which puts us on the front row."

Tracy didn't think the outside pole should be to much of a disadvantage: "Obviously, he [Bourdais]'s going to be the guy that's going to set the pace into the first corner. All the action really is going to be on the back straightaway. It's sometimes very difficult in the front straightaway. But, you know, the bottom line, we need to get to the end of the race to be able to be in position to win the race. So it should be a good start, but I wouldn't say anything too crazy."

Behind Junqueira, Mario Dominguez pushed autosport.com columnist Justin Wilson back a spot on the grid to fifth. Patrick Carpentier and Ryan Hunter-Reay are next up, while Champ Car returnee Memo Gidley will start 18th and last in his Rocketsports entry.