Tracy sets provisional Vegas pole

The Forsythe Championship Racing driver recorded a lap time of 1:19.784 to set an average of 110.097mph around the 2.44-mile course, beating a stunning performance by rookie Simon Pagenaud.

The Frenchman put on red-walled soft tyres on his Team Australia car to set a time just two tenths of a second shy of Tracy.

"I've gotta thank the whole team and my personal sponsors," Tracy said. "This was a great performance by everyone, because they worked so hard over the winter.

"But some people outside the team thought our progress would get disrupted by taking on a second car in the last week.

"In fact, the fly-in crew working on Mario's [Dominguez, teammate] car have all pitched in really well. And we've just worked hard."

Regarding the track, the Canadian commented: "I like it, it's a real challenge and it's really fast and wide.

"Chris Kneifel (track designer) has made a really nice job of it. But it's a typical street track - it's slippery off line. You can't put the car in the wrong place on the track and think you can get away with it."

Pagenaud was thrilled with his performance. He said: "It's really, really great to be here. It's kind of a relief too, because at least I know now we're on the pace.

"There are still things I need to work on, on both myself and the car, but it is a good start."

The Frenchman's efforts were particularly notable considering he had never run the soft-compound tyres before, as they had not been used in testing.

He said: "I put the reds on because we felt we might have a shot at pole, but when I tried to brake later, I locked up. So we only managed to get one good lap on them."

Pagenaud's mood was in stark contrast to his countryman Sebastien Bourdais, who was left frustrated by another burnt out ignition coil, which lost him a lot of track time.

In the circumstances, the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing driver did a remarkable job on the hard compound black tyres to claw himself back through the field to clock third fastest.

His teammate Graham Rahal had a dreadful session, blighted by gear-shifting problems, and he is languishing in 15th.

At the same time, Will Power ruined his chances of a shot at pole when he pushed too hard on the exit of a left-hander and swiped the wall with his right-rear wheel having completed only five laps.

Justin Wilson and Alex Tagliani clocked fourth and fifth fastest for RSPORTS, 0.12 seconds apart, just ahead of Robert Doornbos of Minardi Team USA.

PKV Racing, by contrast, struggled to eighth and ninth - Tristan Gommendy pipping Neel Jani but also earning the displeasure of Dale Coyne Racing by rear-ending Bruno Junqueira's car and breaking its wishbone before the Brazilian even had a chance to set a lap.

Dan Clarke rounded up the top ten, 1.1 seconds behind Minardi teammate Doornbos.

Pos  Driver              Team                   Time              Laps
 1.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe Championship  1:19.784           10
 2.  Simon Pagenaud      Team Australia         1:19.998 + 0.214   12
 3.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman/Haas/Lanigan    1:20.197 + 0.413    8
 4.  Justin Wilson       RSPORTS                1:20.310 + 0.526   11
 5.  Alex Tagliani       RSPORTS                1:20.437 + 0.653   11
 6.  Robert Doornbos     Minardi Team USA       1:20.991 + 1.207   15
 7.  Will Power          Team Australia         1:21.007 + 1.223    5
 8.  Tristan Gommendy    PKV                    1:21.565 + 1.781   10
 9.  Neel Jani           PKV                    1:21.618 + 1.834   11
10.  Dan Clarke          Minardi Team USA       1:22.123 + 2.339   11
11.  Ryan Dalziel        Pacific Coast          1:22.202 + 2.418   12
12.  Mario Dominguez     Forsythe Championship  1:22.384 + 2.600   13
13.  Katherine Legge     Dale Coyne             1:22.420 + 2.636   13
14.  Alex Figge          Pacific Coast          1:22.788 + 3.004   12
15.  Graham Rahal        Newman/Haas/Lanigan    1:23.307 + 3.523    9
16.  Matt Halliday       Conquest               No Time             2
17.  Bruno Junqueira     Dale Coyne             No Time             1