CHAMP CARS Allmendinger steering wheel of fortune, again

The 24-year-old Californian has the provisional pole for Sunday's Molson Grand Prix.
TORONTO (AP) -- It seems A.J. Allmendinger can do no wrong these days.
On Friday, the Champ Car World Series driver was sitting in his Forsythe Championship Racing Lola midway through the 30-minute provisional qualifying session when one of his engineers noticed the street course for the Molson Grand Prix of Toronto was nearly empty.
"He asked me if I wanted to go out right then or wait," Allmendinger said. "It's hard to get a clean lap in traffic but, usually, the fastest laps of qualifying are right at the end, when the track is in the best condition. But there's usually lots of traffic, too."
Takes a chance
The 24-year-old Californian -- the only American driver in Champ Car -- decided to take a chance.
Allmendinger proceeded to turn two consecutive fast laps over the 1.755-mile course, either of which would have given him the provisional pole for Sunday's race.
The fastest lap, 58.621 seconds (107.777 mph), guaranteed him a front row start for the third straight race, no matter what he does in final time trials today.
"Everything is just falling into place," said Allmendinger, who has won two straight races since being fired by the RuSport team and hired by the team owned by series co-owner Gerald Forsythe.
The 2004 Rookie of the Year had come close to winning, but had failed to make it to the top of the victory podium until he jumped into the Forsythe No. 7 entry last month at Portland. He backed up that win with another in Cleveland on June 25.
"The whole Forsythe team is doing a great job, but this is probably the toughest day we've had since we've been together," Allmendinger said. "This is a really tough track and it just took us a while to get it together."
Tire grip
A key to the fast laps Friday was the team's decision to use the alternate tire when they sent Allmendinger onto the track. The Bridgestone alternate, with a red sidewall, is softer, wears out more quickly, but also provides more grip than the black-walled regular tires.
"The reds are going to give you more grip and they gave me a bit more balance, too. I could get a little more aggressive and drive it a little more like I want to," Allmendinger said. "Now, knowing we're definitely starting on the front row, we can take some chances and try some new things."
Justin Wilson, Allmendinger's former teammate and the defending race winner here, was a distant second Friday at 58.830 (107.394), followed by surprising 19-year-old Frenchman Nelson Philippe at 59.203 (106.718), local favorite Paul Tracy -- Allmendinger's new teammate -- at 59.274 (106.590) and series leader Sebastien Bourdais at 59.313 (106.520).
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