MID-OHIO Tracy captures provisional pole

Paul Tracy advanced to within two points of series leader Bruno Junqueira.
LEXINGTON (AP) -- Paul Tracy turned a fast early lap Friday to win the provisional pole for the CART Champ Car Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio, and move within two points of series leader Bruno Junqueira.
Regardless of what happens in qualifying today, Tracy, who picked up a point in the standings, will start on the front row of Sunday's race.
Tracy's fast time of 120.957 mph came on his fifth of 13 qualifying laps in the 40-minute session.
No driver came close to that mark the rest of the way. Alex Tagliani was second at 120.468, while Tracy's Players-Forsythe Racing teammate, Patrick Carpentier, who won at Mid-Ohio last year, was third at 120.229.
Fastest lap disallowed
Carpentier had his fastest lap disallowed for blocking Jimmy Vasser, but that lap still would have left him third.
The qualifying session ended three minutes early when Vasser spun off in the grass.
Tracy had led the points race for most of the season, but fell to second last week at Road America when he crashed early and failed to get any points while Junqueira swept all 23 available.
Tracy said losing the points lead made him eager to get it back.
"It's always important to respond to a challenge," he said. "The last few weeks, we were able to dominate, but Bruno responded in spades last week. ... Bruno hit the ball toward us, now we're hitting it back toward him."
Never won here
Tracy never has won at this 2.26-mile, 13-turn track in the hills of north central Ohio, but has finished second four times in 10 previous appearances.
"This has not been a particularly great track for me. I've never won here, but I've always finished pretty well, so maybe I'm due," he said.
If Tagliani's second place on the provisional grid holds up, it would be his best qualifying effort since winning the pole at Milwaukee in May.
"I split an engine in the pit lane this morning during practice -- it went 'Poof!' and I said 'I didn't do anything' -- so we recovered pretty well," he said.
"I got lucky when I went out on the second set of tires. I got a good lap early and a lot of guys didn't get the chance because of traffic."
Crowded track
Carpentier said a crowded track prevented him from posting a better time. "The car was better than what it did, but there was a lot of traffic," he said.
"Guys were in front of me and behind me and it wasn't easy to get a good lap in. PT did his fast time early and he couldn't find a gap at the end either."
Carpentier is looking for his third straight Mid-Ohio podium finish. He led all but three laps last year and had the top speed on both days of qualifying.