Warm-up: Forsythe still in front

The Canadian duo were the only drivers to lap the 1.721-mile Toronto street course in less than a minute. Tracy's 59.961s lap paced most of the 30 minute session, until Carpentier turned in a 59.539s with just a couple of minutes remaining.

Pole winner Tracy, a Toronto native, is searching for his first win at home since 1993 - his first full season racing Champ Cars. Carpentier has found less success at Toronto, with a seventh place finish as his best result. Fifth on the grid for today's race represents his best Toronto qualifying effort.

Sebastien Bourdais and Darren Manning were third and fourth fastest, respectively.

Rain does not appear to be an issue for the first time all weekend. The race is expected to take place under sunny skies with significantly warmer temperatures than the field endured in practice and qualifying. The warmer weather has raised questions about tyre wear, given that Bridgestone has brought its softest compound street course tyre to Canada.

The Exhibition Place track is one of the racier street courses on the Champ Car World Series trail, with a clear passing zone into Turn three. Turn one also offers overtaking opportunities, but requires a bit more bravery and commitment.

The 112-lap event could be coloured by what happens in the first turn, which has often been the scene of opening lap accidents in the past.

"I think this is a track where it's better to start on the inside," said Bruno Junqueira, who will start on the outside of the front row. "But let's see if I can keep my position and put some pressure on Tracy. I know he makes mistakes under pressure and that's the way I'm going to try to pass him."

Tracy, who leads Junqueira by eight points as the Champ Car World Series reaches the halfway point in the 19-race schedule, knows what he has to do today.

"It's going to be a very technical race strategy," he said. "The important thing for me is that the two guys I need to beat in the championship are right behind me on the grid. We need to make sure that we don't lose points. We need to finish the race and not make any mistakes."