Wearing a brace on his rapidly-healing wrist, Justin Wilson (#9 CDW Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) could have easily passed for an injured basketball player as he negotiated the paddock on a cloudy Saturday at Mexico City's Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. source: champcarworldseries.com But once the engines fired for today's final round of qualifying for the Gran Premio Telmex Presentado por Banamex, Wilson proved himself every bit the racer as he set a new track record in taking the Bridgestone Pole Award for tomorrow's Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season finale. Wilson stormed around the 2.774-mile road circuit in a time of 1:24.801 (117.763 mph) to take the pole, becoming the first driver since Bobby Unser (1980-81) to win consecutive poles in Mexico City. Wilson started from pole a year ago and blitzed the field, leading 65 of 70 laps to score the ictory. The RuSPORT driver shook off the ill effects of the broken wrist that sidelined him for the Australia event two weeks ago, and joined such luminaries as Mark Donohue, Ted Horn and Mauricio Gugelmin as Champ Car drivers to have won four poles. The third-year Champ Car star sealed the pole on his seventh lap of the day, but then had to watch as three-time series champion Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) took two final shots at upending him as the session closed, only to come up less than two-tenths of a second short. Bourdais carded the second-best time of the day with a 1:24.986 (117.506 mph) clocking, and will start from the front row for the seventh consecutive race. The session was the polar opposite of yesterday's frenetic outing as only eight of 18 drivers had managed to better their Friday times through the first 20 minutes of the session. But times started dropping as the last minutes of the session ticked off, as teams bolted on their last sets of red-walled alternate Bridgestone Potenzas for a final run at the pole. Bruno Junqueira (#2 Hole In The Wall Camps Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) made the most of his final minutes, aulting into the third spot on the grid with a time of 1:25.491 (116.812 mph). The result maintains a nice streak for the Brazilian, who has started in the top three in each of his four starts on the Mexico City road course. For the first time this season, first-year drivers will start in the fourth through sixth spots led by Australia polesitter Will Power (#5 Aussie Vineyards Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone). Power scored the fourth position on tomorrow's grid by irtue of his Friday time, as he was one of only three drivers that were unable to make up any ground in today's final qualifying. The leader in the Roshfrans Rookie-of-the-Year standings, he clinches the rookie award with a sixth-place finish in tomorrow's event. Ryan Briscoe (#10 RuSPORT Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) made a strong charge at Power and scored the best starting spot of his ery young Champ Car career, earning the fifth position with a time of 1:25.643 (116.605 mph). Briscoe will start alongside fellow rookie Dan Clarke (#14 CTE Racing - HVM Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) in Row Three tomorrow after Clarke carded a time of 1:25.942 (116.199 mph) to claim the sixth position on the grid. A pair of seven-year eterans will chase the rookies to the green flag tomorrow as PKV Racing's Oriol Servia (#6 Gulfstream Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) and Alex Tagliani (#15 Aussie Vineyards Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) will make up the fourth row. Tagliani was the main attraction of the early part of today's final round of qualifying, taking the track by himself at the start of the day, lopping more than a second from his Friday clocking on just his second lap.
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