CART Tracy bounces back, wins Vancouver Molson pole

Officials penalized Paul Tracy for blocking in Friday's session.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Paul Tracy answered his critics the best way he could, winning the pole Saturday for the Vancouver Molson Indy.
The Champ Car points leader lost the provisional pole -- and the championship point that goes with it -- to Bruno Junqueira on Friday when CART penalized Tracy for blocking other drivers late in the qualifying session.
"It's very satisfying," an unsmiling Tracy said after Saturday's qualifying session for today's race. "Yesterday, I felt we were wrongly stripped of our position and point. They were given to the wrong person. He didn't earn it."
The series "bad boy" -- often at odds with CART and other drivers for his aggressive tactics on the track and outspoken comments off it -- took no chances Saturday.
Tracy answered after watching 2001 Vancouver winner Roberto Moreno post a fast lap of 1 minute, 1.172 seconds, 104.813 mph to take over the top spot with 26 minutes remaining in the 40-minute session.
Instead of waiting for the traffic-jammed late laps, as the leaders usually do, Tracy took no chances that anyone would accuse him of blocking on the tight 1.78-mile street circuit this time.
Tracy drove his Ford-Cosworth-powered Lola onto the nearly empty track with nearly 18 minutes remaining and quickly got up to speed.
Back on top
He retook the top spot with just under 15 minutes remaining, turning a lap of 1:01.049, 105.024, then bettered it the next trip around with a 1:00.926, 105.236.
Tracy said his qualifying effort midway through the session was very purposeful.
"I wanted to make sure there was no reason for anybody to complain about anything," he said. "I wanted to get it out of the way and do my talking on the track."
Junqueira came the closest to catching Tracy with a last-second lap of 1:01.070, 104.988, but Tracy wound up heading into today's 100-lap race with his fourth pole of the season and the 17th of his Champ Car career.
Another view
Junqueira, sitting next to Tracy at the post-qualifying press conference, said, "What happened yesterday was a very strange thing. I did not want to get the pole that way.
"Today, I really tried to win the pole. I really pushed hard, but Paul was very fast."
The result got Tracy back the point he gave up on Friday and put the Canadian-born driver 15 points ahead of Junqueira in the standings -- exactly where he was when the race weekend began.
Both drivers said there will be no reprisals on Sunday.
"It's just going to be a race like usual," Tracy said.
Junqueira added, "I will race Paul like I always do. I want to win the race."
Moreno's fast lap gave him third place on the 19-car grid, with Michel Jourdain fourth at 1:01.582, 104.115, followed by rookie Sebastien Bourdais at 1:01.617 104.056.
Patrick Carpentier, Tracy's countryman and Player's/Forsythe Racing teammate, lost his fast lap when he crashed with just under 9 minutes remaining, bringing out the only red flag of the session. His second fast lap was good enough to place him sixth.
The top seven drivers Saturday were quicker than Junqueira's provisional pole time of 1:01.845.