Tracy beat the rain and the Champ Car World Series field
Source Team Players
Portland, Oregon - Team Player's driver Paul Tracy beat
the rain and the Champ Car World Series field on Saturday with an early
qualifying lap of 58.793 seconds (120.565 mph / 194.030 km/h) that earned him
the pole for Sunday's G.I. Joe's 200 on the 1.969-mile Portland road course. It
was Tracy's 15th career pole and his second of the season, for his fifth
front-row start in eight races.
Tracy was awarded one point for winning the pole, drawing him within seven
points of Michel Jourdain Jr., the current leader in the drivers' standings.
Jourdain will be starting alongside Tracy on the front row of Sunday's grid
after touring the course in 58.838 seconds.
Tracy's teammate Patrick Carpentier, thwarted by heavy traffic on what would
likely have been his best lap of the session, had to settle for the 10th fastest
time and will start from Row 5 as he tries to win his second race in as many
weeks. Carpentier won his first race of the year last Sunday on the Laguna Seca
road course in Monterey, California. Fellow Canadian Alex Tagliani, who was
fastest in the practice session prior to today's qualifying, clocked the fifth
fastest qualifying lap.
With rain quickly approaching, virtually the entire field emerged from the pits
when the qualifying session went under green. Tracy wasted no time moving into
third place and then registered the fastest lap of the weekend before pitting.