Qualifying: Brack on pole - again!

Ganassi Racing Lola-Toyota pilot Brack, who was on pole position here last year, said that lapping the Rockingham track was "like a video game, but without a reset button!" He circulated in 24.908s, a speed of 213.763mph.

Brack will start Saturday's race from pole, ahead of Michael Andretti (Team Green Lola-Honda) and series leader Cristiano da Matta (Newman/Haas Lola-Toyota). Da Matta admitted that he wasn't flat-out through Turn 4.

Brack added: "This is only my fourth or fifth oval event with Ganassi Racing, and I think we're starting to see what I need out of the car to be quick on ovals."

Fellow front row starter Andretti said: "I've had a tough time in the last few weeks, but I was determined to do a little better here. The car was working very well."

Dario Franchitti (Team Kool Green Lola-Honda) had looked on course for a top position, but his second lap almost ended in disaster and he wound up fifth: "I got a bit high into Turn 1 and had to get off the throttle big time."

Darren Manning did an excellent job in his first CART qualifying session, outpacing Mexicans Mario Dominguez and Michel Jourdain Jr in his RML-run Team St George Lola-Ford and will start 17th.

"It certainly felt fantastic to go out on new tyres and a light fuel load," he said. "We made some changes, and that was a gamble, but they worked out. I only got 40 laps in this morning, so it was a shame we couldn't work to get a better set-up. I really wanted to show people here what I could do."