Franchitti and Montoya fight for $1m title

Scotland's Franchitti goes into Sunday's 500-mile race at Fontana, California, with a nine point lead over rookie Montoya, with 22 points up for grabs. For him a third place finish will be enough.

But the high-speed nature of the CART World Series finale on the banked superspeedway means that anything can happen. In the season's only other 500-mile event, Montoya finished second, just 0.032 behind Tony Kanaan. And all that after race leader Max Papis ran out of fuel on the final lap.

Team Kool Green's Franchitti -- who has scored three wins and a record 11 podium finishes this year -- is clear about what he has to do in Sunday's race: 'I know we're capable of getting the job done, we just have to get on with it. We had a good test at Fontana recently, so I think we'll be all right car-wise.

'We've just got to stay focused and do what we've done all year - qualify well and run a smart race. We're not going to worry about what Juan's doing or anything else that we have no control over.'

Columbian Montoya, in a sensational rookie season, has scored seven wins from the 19 race series breaking the record set by Nigel Mansell in 1993.

The Target Ganassi driver led the points standings until the penultimate race of the season in Australia where he crashed out - and Franchitti scored maximum points. The 24-year old has stayed silent since that mistake.

Autosport will be at Fontana, so check back regularly for news and reports from practice and qualifying for the exciting climax to the CART FedEx Championship Series.

The race starts at 12pm local time which is 8pm GMT Sunday UK. (Don't forget it's the end of British Summer Time in the UK and Europe, so the clocks go back one hour on Saturday night).