source: champcarworldseries.com

ERIC MAUK: We'll get started with our post-qualifying press conference, first round of qualifying for the Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey, Round 11 of the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. We are joined by our top three qualifiers on the day, starting with our third qualifier, driver of the #1 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone for Forsythe Championship Racing, Paul Tracy, the defending series champion, put up a top lap today of 1:10.214 with a speed of 114.746 mph. Paul, how do you feel about the way things went today?

PAUL TRACY: Fairly pleased. Tires ran well. Just waited probably a little too long, we were looking for a gap on the track because there was a lot of traffic and we were looking for the right spot to lead to go out on the track. And probably waited a little bit too long and by the time I got the tires to the temperature, I only had one lap at it. I started my run on the following lap and Pat went off. Took a lot of paint off the front of my car and off my helmet. That was our first lap, so probably not the optimum lap. And I couldn't see all the way from four of the last part of the corner. We'll try to it again tomorrow.

ERIC MAUK: You came off the truck probably quick, you were quick in the practice, are you pretty confident about this weekend?

PAUL TRACY: Yeah, I think we had a good race here last year. We really worked on the setup. We came back with a good setup and basically came back with the same car that we ran last year in the race and it was good right off the truck, it's not perfect.

ERIC MAUK: Our second place qualifier on the day, our series points leader, driver of the #2 McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone for Newman Haas Racing, Sebastien Bourdais. Sebastien puts up a quick lap of 1:10.130 seconds, 114.884 miles per hour. Sebastien, talk about how qualifying went.

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS: Well, I'm pretty happy. I think last year was a very good weekend for us. I'm pretty happy to be second and got it close to pole position. Tomorrow we'll see how the alternate Bridgestone tires we put on the car. The racetrack is going to be faster.