Heavy rain 15 minutes before the end of final qualifying has fixed the grid for Sunday's G.I. Joe'2 200. Paul Tracy grabbed the top spot, as the teams raced the incoming bad weather.
Michel Jourdain, Friday's fastest driver, and the current points leader will start second. Traffic seems to have been the major talking point, and should make for an exciting race. Full quotes soon.
With the rain clouds gathering, all but two cars took to the track when the green flag came, so traffic was going to be an issue. With the conditions likely to change, an early quick lap was vital.
Tracy set the ball rolling by being the first driver into the 58 second bracket, with a lap of 58.793 (120.565mph). This spurred Friday's polesitter Michel Jourdain into action, the Mexican coming close with his best lap of 58.838 (120.473mph), which was good enough for second place on the grid, which he was already locked into after Friday's session.
Tracy has been the talk of the paddock this weekend, named by a number of his rivals for blocking during Friday's qualifying. It was something that clearly fired the Canadian up: "I had a lot of motivation going into the session, and I guess sometimes it helps to drive angry. This pole is a message to all the naysayers in the paddock," said Tracy. "And these would-be racer car drivers should remember that people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones..."
On the inside of row three will be Adrian Fernandez, the owner/driver happy with his position after a lap of 58.948 (120.248mph): "It's good to be on the inside for the start here, so I'm pleased with that, but we did think we had a shot at pole."
Sebastien Bourdais was another pleased with his day, The rookie winding up fourth on 58.976 (120.191mph). "After the day we had yesterday, this is a good performance. We had traffic, but I'm sure everyone will say that."
Ryan Hunter-Reay made up for the disappointment of losing his Friday time to end up seventh, but the rookie felt he could have done better, as he set off on his final run on new tires just as the rain came. "I know we would have gone faster, and so do my guys, but it's my best starting position, and we're going the right way. I'll just have to show the speed in the race."
One man not happy was Bruno Junqueira, left in 11th after finding traffic on both his runs. "Paul Tracy blocked me every lap on my first run. I had the car to be on pole, and I'm back there. When I catch him tomorrow, and show him what he did to pay him back."
