Alex Tagliani knew his Johnson Controls Lola/Ford had the speed to win pole position for the Milwaukee Mile Centennial 250. He just never got the chance to prove it source: cart.com - John Oreovicz Due to a series of showers blanketing southern Wisconsin throughout Friday evening, Champ Car qualifying was officially rained out. That put Tagliani on pole by dint of the 20.882-second (177.914) mph lap he turned during the practice session earlier in the afternoon in his Johnson Controls Lola/Ford-Cosworth. The grid for Saturday night's 250-lap affair will be set based on combined practice times, putting Friday pace-setter Michel Jourdain Jr. on the front row with Tagliani, while Player's/Forsythe teammates Paul Tracy and Patrick Carpentier will start from the second row ahead of Adrian Fernandez and Jimmy Vasser. It was the fourth career pole for the 30-year old French-Canadian and the first in the CART series for Paul Gentilozzi's Rocketsports team. With the rainout, CART's first-ever night qualifying session will have to wait another five weeks until the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series hits Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport circuit in early July. Having pole based on practice times didn't disappoint Tagliani, whose three best practice laps were all better than second man Jourdain. He was particularly happy since a large contingent from locally-based sponsor Johnson Controls is on hand this weekend. "I'm pretty pleased because a lot of the guys were concerned about the rain and I've never seen so many people running new tires during practice," Tagliani said. "Everyone knew the rain was coming and they were trying hard, but nobody could improve. But we improved quite a bit over Friday night." Tagliani said that the Rocketsports crew took a 30-minute break in the middle of the 105-minute long Saturday afternoon practice session. "We were still P1 after that," he noted. "Then at the end I ran the 20.8 and was just about flat. I thought there was a 20.6 in the car but we didn't get to show it. I think we still showed plenty of speed even if we didn't qualify." Jourdain purposely ran a minimum number of laps in the afternoon practice session. "The track changes a lot from the heat of the day to night," he stated. "Not running was part of our plan because we didn't want to make big adjustments to make the car good in the day. "I guess the biggest difference between running first and second is getting the championship point," he added. "But since there is no point available here, it doesn't matter. It always feels good to be fastest, but I'm still happy. The car is good and I hope we can get to the front in a hurry. If not, I know my guys can get me ahead of the others in the pits." Tracy brushed the wall again during Saturday practice but was confident of his chances heading into qualifying. "Everybody is disappointed," he related. "We would like to have been out there to put on a good show for the fans, but Mother Nature wouldn't cooperate." Looking ahead to the race, Tracy said: "The key will be keeping the handling right. Last year, if you hit your line right, no one could pass even if they were two seconds slower. But this year, if you're that much quicker, you'll be able to pass the guy with no problems." Added Jourdain: "The last time we ran these wings in '98, the cars had a tendency to go loose in race trim. Running at night when it's cooler will help the right rear tire in that respect. But I'm really looking forward to running a short oval with this wing configuration again. Passing for position will still be hard, but whoever gets through traffic well will be looking good." One team that will have its work cut out for it on Saturday is Newman/Haas Racing. Bruno Junqueira and Sebastien Bourdais found some pace on Friday afternoon, but the rainout relegated them to 8th and 13th on the grid based on their practice times. "I'm disappointed because we had a good car at night and I
thought we would be closer than eighth place," remarked co-championship leader
Junqueira. "That's the way it is, though, and I'm sure the team will help
me get to the front in the race."
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