Drivers frustrated in Cleveland

While Allmendinger took only his second-ever Champ Car pole with a time that beat the track record that was Jimmy Vasser's 1998 pole lap, his teammate was left ruing a goof in the pre-qualifying ten minutes that cost him a shot at pole.

Fastest at the time, Paul Tracy appeared to get a little over-confident in the final turn, nipped the outer grass, and spun round and back across the track to hit the pitwall with a major crump.

The Canadian alighted, grabbed his seat, and Forsythe Championship Racing had him installed in the spare.

Unsurprisingly, the car - despite an identical set-up - felt different, and a couple more offs from PT displayed how hard he was trying.

However, his lap time stayed resolutely tenth fastest of the session, and he will start tomorrow's race from fifth, based on his Friday qualifying time.

"I have to thank my crew guys because they did an amazing job," Tracy said. "They really hustled, and to have the spare car ready to go in a matter of minutes.

"But even though the cars were set up almost the same, there's always differences. So we were never able to show our speed."

Nonetheless, he is predicting to be able to fight for the win. And given that he was able to go from tenth to fifth at the start in Portland, starting from fifth here in Cleveland, who knows what he might achieve.

Cristiano da Matta wasn't able to show his speed for RuSPORT, either, and in his case he'll line up tenth, some 0.9 seconds off teammate Wilson.

However, in the Brazilian's case it appears to be a problem with the car. Into Saturday evening, the crew of the No. 10 car were pulling it apart to try and locate the source of his problems.

Said David Brown, the team's technical director: "To be honest, we don't know what the problem is, which is why we're breaking it down to rebuild.

"Cristiano is just saying it lacks balance, and its strange behaviour means he's not comfortable with it."

Their problem is slight compared to Dale Coyne Racing, who are building up Mario Dominguez's car following his huge (85g) shunt in morning practice that eliminated his chances of qualifying. His teammate Jan Heylen, by contrast, was furious at the behaviour of three of his rivals on track.

"I was starting my hot lap, and Katherine [Legge] came out of the pits into my path and then speeded up instead of letting me through," Heylen said.

"Then, on my next run, Oriol Servia was like two straights away from me, there didn't seem a chance of me catching him.

"But he slowed to make space for himself on his qualifying run, I guess, and then as I came up behind him, he speeded up too.

"And then it was the same deal with Paul Tracy on my third run. Unbelievable. We could have had 11th or 12th here; instead we've got 16th.

"I've been to see Tony Cotman at Race Control, because I think this situation has to change. Drivers aren't even thinking about it when they do it, because they know they're gonna get away with it. Someone has to get penalised for it soon."

The Conquest Racing team are frustrated with their qualifying showing. In 2004, they were on the front row in Cleveland with Justin Wilson doing the driving. Last year, Andrew Ranger used the same set-up to qualify fourth. But this year, Ranger and teammate Charles Zwolsman will line up 12th and 13th.

Said Chris Mower, Conquest's team manager: "I think Charles did a really good job in the circumstances, because he had an oil leak in the pre-qualfying session, I think because of an excursion caused by his off-track excursion in this morning's practice.

"But the lap times are very disappointing. The drivers are saying the balance isn't too bad, but for some reason they're not feeling able to turn in with any speed.

"We seem to have a good race car at each race, but we can't qualify."