Tracy keeps Cleveland pole

The Canadian cinched pole position for Saturday evening's US Bank Grand Prix of Cleveland with a lap of 57.546sec (131.749mph). His efforts were aided by a red flag that brought an early end to the session just after the Forsythe Racing Lola driver set his fast time - and just before rival Bourdais planned to make his last-ditch effort to wrest the pole back with his Newman/Haas Lola.

"It feels great," said Tracy after claiming his 20th career Champ Car pole. "We didn't run new tyres this morning and I was able to consistently running in the low 58s. So I felt the car was good. You know, with new tyres, we could jump quite a bit quicker. But the lap came and we decided to try to make our best lap in the middle of the run, knowing that, again, it would be hard at the end with a lot of dirt and grass on the track."

Similarly enthused was British rookie Justin Wilson, who claimed his first career front row start by taking second place with a lap 0.4sec slower than Tracy.

"We've been quick most of the weekend, but we have not actually completed the lap," said the Conquest Racing driver. "So I knew the car was good enough and very happy that it was working. I'm very pleased that things are coming together. We're making progress each weekend and making the car quicker."

Bourdais settled for third on the final grid, his bid for a record fifth straight front row falling just 0.08sec short. The Frenchman was philosophical about it.

"Qualifying was much better yesterday, but that's the way it goes," he said. "If a bad day is qualifying P3, I'll take it. We are still starting from the inside for Turn 1."