CART Jourdain captures another pole

Michel Jourdain copped the second pole of his CART career and the season.
MONTEREY, Calif. (AP) -- Michel Jourdain won the second pole of both his CART career and the season with a fast lap of 115.876 mph in qualifying Saturday at Laguna Seca.
Bruno Junqueira, the fourth-fastest at 115.437 mph, will start alongside Jourdain today in the Grand Prix of Monterey because he took the provisional pole Friday.
"When I made my time I was quite amazed," said Jourdain, seventh-fastest Friday. "We tried some things this morning -- little changes."
His lap was well short of the qualifying record of 118.969 set in 2000 by Helio Castroneves.
Starting third will be Patrick Carpentier, who went 115.8. He'll share the second row with Paul Tracy. He posted a lap of 115.641.
Increased point lead
Jourdain got his first CART victory in 126 starts two weeks ago at Milwaukee to assume the series points lead with 67. He increased it to 68 with Saturday's pole, and is 11 points ahead of Junqueira and Tracy.
Junqueira said his front-row spot might not be all that much of an advantage.
"Third is much better to start than second here. Second is not too good in turn one," he said.
Carpentier, fifth in the standings, was pleased with his move up from fifth after qualifying Friday.
"For some reason with us, the seasons always started slow," he said. "I am looking forward to the rest of the season."
Rahal eyes eighth
Jourdain, who drives for Team Rahal, could give Bobby Rahal his eighth victory at Laguna Seca. Rahal, the 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner and a three-time CART champion, has won here four times as a driver and three as an owner.
Both front-row drivers said they thought tire wear would be a factor in the 87-lap race around a course that snakes for 2.238 miles and 11 turns -- including the corkscrew's 50-foot drop -- through the rolling hills of the Monterey Peninsula.
"It could come down to who uses more tires and who loses less," Carpentier said.