Flat-out pace expected in Canada

Pole man Da Matta was fourth fastest in the Sunday morning race warm-up, which was paced by his Newman/Haas Racing team-mate, Christian Fittipaldi. Seventeen of the 18 drivers in the field came within a second of Fittipaldi's 60.372-second tour of the bumpy Exhibition Place street circuit.

Front row starter Paul Tracy says that getting the field through Toronto's tight first turn will be the key to the race: "I don't need to be over aggressive at the start because this is a track where you can pass and opportunities seem to present themselves here," he remarked. "All of the drivers need to be cognizant of that, because car count is an issue in our series right now and we can't afford to have a first lap incident that takes out half the field.

"If we don't get in front at the first corner, we just have to keep pace and apply pressure," Tracy added. "It's very easy to make a mistake here. It's very slippery, and if you go five feet too deep you slide off. So we need to finish to gain some momentum for the team and score some points."

Tony Kanaan had the only incident in the Sunday warm-up. The Brazilian nosed his Mo Nunn Lola-Honda into the Turn 8 tyre wall, damaging the nose and front suspension. Kanaan rebounded to set the third fastest lap of the session, but he starts the race from 10th on the grid.

The race will be staged in sunny and warm conditions and the mandatory pit stop window has been set at 34 laps, necessitating a minimum of three pit stops.