Qualifying 1: da Matta fastest

Da Matta took over the top spot from team-mate Christian Fittipaldi with just under six minutes remaining in the hour-long session. But Team Rahal entered the mix, as first Jimmy Vasser and then Michel Jourdain Jr stole the provisional pole before da Matta took it back for good with less than two minutes to go. Da Matta's time was 1m09.092s for a lap average of 102.542 mph.

Fittipaldi wound up second on 1m09.220s, followed by Vasser (1m09.373s), Jourdain and Bruno Junqueira.

"My car had some understeer on the first set of tyres, and the balance changed to oversteer on the second set but it was more settled," said CART championship leader da Matta. "We were that close on the balance that small changes made the difference."

Under CART's revised qualifying rules, da Matta will start Sunday's race from no lower than second on the grid no matter how he fares in Saturday's final qualifying session.

Fittipaldi said: "I was caught in a lot of traffic on my second set of tyres. A clear lap is critical with the new qualifying format. But it makes your life a lot easier as a driver when things are going your way."

Alex Tagliani was the only driver to damage his car during the session, the French-Canadian knocking off the right front corner of the Player's/Forsythe Reynard-Ford. He was seventh fastest.

"At the corner before the hairpin the car got some oversteer and it just slapped the wall," he reported. "It was my mistake from trying to be too aggressive. It was my last lap and I was 0.4s quicker than my best, so I think I would have been second or third."

For full results from qualifying 1 click here.