Friday down under source: CART.com SURFERS PARADISE, Australia--Bruno Junqueira (#4 Target Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone) may not have a CART FedEx Championship Series title to chase any more but he showed that he wasn't just going through the motions on a sunny Friday afternoon in Surfers Paradise, Australia. Relegated to leading a charge for second place in the standings after Cristiano da Matta (#1 Caltex/Havoline Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone) sealed the title in Miami, Junqueira came out in front of a Friday crowd of 60,340 to stake his claim on the $500,000 runner-up prize by winning the provisional pole for Sunday's Honda Indy 300 in record-setting fashion. Junqueira put up a lap of 1:31.515 (109.949 mph/176.946 km/h) to eclipse the previous record lap of 1:31.703 set in 1999 by Dario Franchitti (#27 KOOL Honda/Lola/Bridgestone) and wrest the provisional pole away from Franchitti's Team KOOL Green teammate Paul Tracy (#26 KOOL Honda/Lola/Bridgestone). Junqueira's run not only earned him his fourth front-row starting spot of the season, but also gave him another championship point, boosting his total to 144 on the year and widening his gap in the chase for second place to 15 over Franchitti.
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