Power takes pole in Vegas

The Team Australia car ended up almost 0.9 seconds quicker than today's second fastest man, Robert Doornbos.

The Australian, who scored his first pole in Surfers Paradise last year, lapped the 2.44-mile course in 1:17.629, at an average speed of 113.154mph.

"The track really gripped up, and with the red Bridgestones we got a really good run despite the traffic," he explained.

"We had a gearbox pressure issue so we stopped out on the track, but luckily the reds were already out because of Sebastien [Bourdais], so we didn't lose our fastest time."

After being quickest in the 10-minute pre-qualifying session (despite ending it down an escape road), Bourdais looked like the only man likely to threaten Power.

But when the Frenchman hit a wall and caused his right-rear tyre to deflate, he brought out the red flag, which meant his quickest lap - his second - was deleted. Bourdais's fastest time from yesterday will put him 16th on the 17-car grid.

"I screwed up and brushed the wall on the outside of Turn 9," he said. "It had too much understeer and I just forced the thing.

"The car stepped out a little bit on exit and I was already too close to the wall and hit the rear a little bit. That bent the toe link and broke the rim [of the wheel]."

That opened the door for Doornbos to show front-running pace for Team Minardi USA on his Champ Car debut.

"We started the weekend not very competitive but, we sat down with [race engineer] Michael Cannon and he turned it around," the Dutchman commented.

"Red tyres were a new thing for me, and our first outing on them wasn't great. But we made adjustments and got it better and got a good lap."

Paul Tracy will start on the front row due to the provisional pole he set yesterday. The Canadian said: "It was a little tougher today; I think our car suited going over the big bump, but they took it away last night.

"Then we were catching red flags while we or on red tyres, and [Simon] Pagenaud pulled out of an escape road in front of me and cost me seven tenths.

"Having said that, we didn't have anything for Will today. In the morning practice we did some longer runs of eight or nine laps, because I think the tyres aren't lasting too well, especially at the rear."

Champ Car's other Las Vegas resident, Alex Tagliani, had a fine showing with third fastest time, putting him fourth on the grid.

He ended up a tenth up on Team Australia's second car, that of Simon Pagenaud, who completed a great day for the squad with fourth fastest (fifth on grid).

Bruno Junqueira, who was a top six contender all day for Dale Coyne Racing, will line up sixth - the squad's best starting position since the 2004 race at Mexico City.

Combined qualifying results:

Pos  Driver              Team                   Time              Laps
 1.  Will Power          Team Australia         1:17.629           16
 2.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe Championship  1:19.625 + 1.996   19
 3.  Robert Doornbos     Minardi Team USA       1:18.515 + 0.886   28
 4.  Alex Tagliani       RSPORTS                1:18.850 + 1.221   21
 5.  Simon Pagenaud      Team Australia         1:18.961 + 1.332   23
 6.  Bruno Junqueira     Dale Coyne             1:19.102 + 1.473   14
 7.  Mario Dominguez     Forsythe Championship  1:19.156 + 1.527   27
 8.  Justin Wilson       RSPORTS                1:19.269 + 1.640   22
 9.  Neel Jani           PKV                    1:19.360 + 1.731   23
10.  Graham Rahal        Newman Haas Lanigan    1:19.710 + 2.081   20
11.  Tristan Gommendy    PKV                    1:19.784 + 2.155   19
12.  Dan Clarke          Minardi Team USA       1:19.814 + 2.185   22
13.  Katherine Legge     Dale Coyne             1:20.104 + 2.475   28
14.  Matt Halliday       Conquest               1:20.122 + 2.493   14
15.  Ryan Dalziel        Pacific Coast          1:20.128 + 2.499   24
16.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman Haas Lanigan    1:20.197 + 2.568   10
17.  Alex Figge          Pacific Coast          1:20.313 + 2.684   27