Da Matta tops warm-up times

PPI Motorsport's young Brazilian driver was a relatively comfortable 0.3s clear of nearest rival and polesitter Dario Franchitti. Da Matta will start the race from seventh position.

The stars of qualifying also filled out the top five positions in the warm-up. Helio Castroneves and Juan Montoya, fourth and fifth on the grid respectively, were third and fourth in the warm-up, ahead of front row starter Paul Tracy.

Da Matta's future has been the subject of much speculation in the Vancouver paddock this weekend. The Brazilian, who took the first CART victory for both himself and his PPI Motorsports team at Chicago a month ago, already has a contract to remain with Cal Wells' outfit in 2001. However, it has been suggested that top teams Newman-Haas, Target Chip Ganassi Racing and Patrick Racing have all approached da Matta with a view to filling their vacancies next season.

The Molson Indy Vancouver begins at 9pm UK time. Scattered showers are forecast for race day, and with Team KOOL Green, Penske, Ganassi, Newman-Haas and PPI all looking strong, the result is anyone's guess.

As ever, Autosport.com will bring you all the action with live lap-by-lap updates and a full report after the race.



1 Cristiano da Matta PPI Reynard-Toyota 1m01.983s
2 Dario Franchitti Green Reynard-Honda 1m02.289s
3 Helio Castroneves Penske Reynard-Honda 1m02.358s
4 Juan Montoya Ganassi Lola-Toyota 1m02.364s
5 Paul Tracy Green Reynard-Honda 1m02.370s
6 Jimmy Vasser Ganassi Lola-Toyota 1m02.689s
7 Alex Tagliani Forsythe Reynard-Ford 1m02.701s
8 Tony Kanaan Mo Nunn Reynard-Mercedes 1m02.808s
9 Max Papis Rahal Reynard-Ford 1m02.813s
10 Oriol Servia PPI Reynard-Toyota 1m02.871s
11 Michel Jourdain Jr Bettenhausen Lola-Mercedes 1m03.056s
12 Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Lola-Ford 1m03.237s
13 Adrian Fernandez Patrick Reynard-Ford 1m03.358s
14 Kenny Brack Rahal Reynard-Ford 1m03.542s
15 Mauricio Gugelmin PacWest Reynard-Mercedes 1m03.588s
16 Gil de Ferran Penske Reynard-Honda 1m03.703s
17 Mark Blundell PacWest Reynard-Mercedes 1m04.035s
18 Roberto Moreno Patrick Reynard-Ford 1m04.039s
19 Alex Barron Coyne Lola-Ford 1m04.051s
20 Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Lola-Ford 1m04.234s
21 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Reynard-Ford 1m04.586s
22 Shinji Nakano Walker Reynard-Honda 1m05.064s
23 Luiz Garcia Jr Arciero PRG Reynard-Mercedes 1m06.923s
24 Memo Gidley Della Penna Reynard-Toyota 1m07.320s
25 Tarso Marques Coyne Swift-Ford 1m15.790s