Herta fastest in practice

Herta, the winner here in 1998 and 1999, has been without a regular drive this season after being dropped by Team Rahal last winter. He is out this weekend in a satellite Forsythe entry being run under the Forsythe Championship Racing banner, but his long-term future remains uncertain.

Provisional polesitter Helio Castroneves seemed assured of the top spot until Herta, who failed to set a qualifying time yesterday due to a fuel pump problem, usurped him in the closing stages by just 0.07s.

The session was stopped early after Paul Tracy spun his Team KOOL Green Reynard-Honda into the tyres at turn four, scene of Patrick Carpentier's huge accident yesterday. Tracy's car also briefly became airbourne as it hit the wall, and the Canadian was seen in heated debate with course safety workers afterwards.

Behind Herta and Castroneves, Tony Kanaan was third quickest for Mo Nunn Racing, followed by countryman Cristiano da Matta in the PPI Motorsports entry and Herta's Team Rahal successor Kenny Brack. Proving the competitiveness of the series, each of the top four drivers was powered by a different engine manufacturer: Herta's Reynard-Ford leading Castroneves' Reynard-Honda, Kanaan's Reynard-Mercedes and da Matta's Reynard-Toyota.

Surprise stars included Michel Jourdain Jr and Mark Blundell, the latter's PacWest Reynard-Mercedes appearing in eighth position. Even more impressive was Jourdain, seventh overall and the fastest Lola runner in his Bettenhausen entry. The young Mexican had threatened to produce such a performance in Vancouver last weekend but was foiled by engine problems in final qualifying.

Qualifying begins at 9.45pm UK time, with the slowest 13 cars from yesterday's session running first.



1 Bryan Herta FCR Reynard-Ford 1m08.748s
2 Helio Castroneves Penske Reynard-Honda 1m08.755s
3 Tony Kanaan Mo Nunn Reynard-Mercedes 1m08.996s
4 Cristiano da Matta PPI Reynard-Toyota 1m09.044s
5 Kenny Brack Rahal Reynard-Ford 1m09.047s
6 Gil de Ferran Penske Reynard-Honda 1m09.124s
7 Michel Jourdain Jr Bettenhausen Lola-Mercedes 1m09.239s
8 Mark Blundell PacWest Reynard-Mercedes 1m09.266s
9 Christian Fittipaldi Newman-Haas Lola-Ford 1m09.557s
10 Jimmy Vasser Ganassi Lola-Toyota 1m09.648s
11 Juan Montoya Ganassi Lola-Toyota 1m09.658s
12 Dario Franchitti Green Reynard-Honda 1m09.679s
13 Roberto Moreno Patrick Reynard-Ford 1m09.710s
14 Oriol Servia PPI Reynard-Toyota 1m09.868s
15 Alex Tagliani Forsythe Reynard-Ford 1m09.950s
16 Paul Tracy Green Reynard-Honda 1m09.976s
17 Max Papis Rahal Reynard-Ford 1m10.030s
18 Patrick Carpentier Forsythe Reynard-Ford 1m10.058s
19 Mauricio Gugelmin PacWest Reynard-Mercedes 1m10.108s
20 Shinji Nakano Walker Reynard-Honda 1m10.140s
21 Michael Andretti Newman-Haas Lola-Ford 1m10.264s
22 Adrian Fernandez Patrick Reynard-Ford 1m10.380s
23 Luiz Garcia Jr Arciero PRG Reynard-Mercedes 1m10.388s
24 Memo Gidley Della Penna Reynard-Toyota 1m10.701s
25 Alex Barron Coyne Lola-Ford 1m10.902s
26 Tarso Marques Coyne Swift-Ford 1m10.925s