Papis on overnight pole

Papis in a Reynard-Ford, was a full three tenths faster than Helio Castroneves's Penske Reynard Honda. Third fastest was Papis's Rahal team mate Kenny Brack. The Swede caused the final session to be red-flagged when he crashed two minutes from the end.

In an incredibly close session, the five drivers placed second to sixth were separated by by just 0.08s...

Qualifying continues on Saturday, but with rain forecast, this session may yet determine the grid.




1, Max Papis (Rahal), 1m13.903s
2, Helio Castroneves (Penske), 1m14.310s
3, Kenny Brack (Rahal), 1m14.331s
4, Gil De Ferran (Penske), 1m14.332s
5, Dario Franchitti (Green), 1m14.379s
6, Juan Montoya (Ganassi), 1m14.396s
7, Cristiano da Matta (PPI), 1m14.667s
8, Michael Andretti (Newman-Haas), 1m14.751s
9, Christian Fittipaldi (Newman-Haas), 1m14.895s
10, Oriol Servia (PPI Motorsports), 1m15.331s
11, Roberto Moreno (Patrick), 1m15.686s
12, Jimmy Vasser (Ganassi), 1m15.799s
13, Patrick Carpentier (Forsythe), 1m15.823
14, Alex Tagliani (Forsythe), 1m15.844s
15, Adrian Fernandez (Patrick), 1m15.871s
16, Paul Tracy (Green), 1m15.885s
17, Mark Blundell (PacWest), 1m15.885s
18, Tony Kanaan (Mo Nunn), 1m16.760s
19, Mauricio Gugelmin (PacWest), 1m16.785s
20, Norberto Fontana (Della Penna), 1m16.961s
21, Shinji Nakano (Walker Racing), 1m17.318s
22, Michel Jourdain Jr (Bettenhausen), 1m17.821s
23, Tarso Marques (Coyne), 1m18.461s
24, Takuya Kurosawa (Coyne), 1m20.789s
25, Luiz Garcia Jr (Fast Racing), 1m 21.823s