RuSport Back on the Pace

Justin Wilson had been less than satisfied with the balance of his car in provisional qualifying and finished a below-par seventh on the time sheets, while AJ Allmendinger was mired in 16th after failing to get in a flying lap before a red flag ended the session prematurely.

Matters improved dramatically on Saturday, and Wilson and Allmendinger snared third and fourth respectively, bracketed by a scant 22 hundredths of a second.

"I think qualifying was pretty good today," said Wilson. "We went out slightly earlier than some people and got a good time in so I was quite pleased with that effort."

The Englishman's performance was especially impressive since he had missed most of morning practice due to an as yet undiagnosed mechanical problem.

"That set us back a bit, but part of the benefit of being in a good team like RuSPORT is being able to pool information and AJ got some useful data," noted Wilson.

Allmendinger added: "Today was a good effort by the whole team. We started off pretty bad yesterday and didn't even get in a qualifying run so we've made major improvements today.

"Overall, I think today was a great effort. I'm just a little frustrated with myself because I was on a good lap and made a mistake which I'm sure cost me a little."

The young Californian played a high-profile role in last year's Molson Indy Montreal - qualifying on the front row, sustaining a puncture on the first lap, charging back through the field, and then taking out race leader Sebastien Bourdais in an ill-judged passing attempt at the hairpin, all en route to fifth place.

"This track is one of my favourites," declared Allmendinger. "It's definitely a good place for me and I've done well here in Barber Dodge and Toyota Atlantic, but it's a long race tomorrow so we'll see what happens."