Bourdais takes provisional pole

The two-time champ was the only driver in the 17-car field under 57 seconds.

CLEVELAND (AP) — On runways and taxi-ways he has frequently flown before, Sebastien Bourdais was first to the arrival gate.

Bourdais won the provisional pole for the Grand Prix of Cleveland, zooming around the bumpy and dusty airport course in 56.961 seconds — the only driver in the 17-car field under 57 seconds — on Friday.

A two-time champion who was knocked out of last year’s Champ Car race in a terrifying crash on the first lap, Bourdais had to be towed back to the pits after intentionally running out of fuel while testing a new chassis in the 15-minute warm-up period that preceded qualifying.

However, once he returned to the 2.106-mile track in his familiar yellow-and-red McDonald’s No. 1 car, it didn’t take long for Bourdais to set the standard on a spectacularly sunny day near the shores of Lake Erie.

Increases series lead

Bourdais earned one point for his second provisional pole win this season, giving him 106 points and increasing his series lead to 12 over Australia’s Will Power, who was second in 57.301 seconds.

Power’s Aussie Vineyards teammate, rookie Simon Pagenaud of France, was third in 57.338 seconds. Justin Wilson was fourth in 57.427 seconds.

As the fastest driver on the first day of qualifying, the 28-year-old Bourdais guaranteed himself a spot in the front row for Sunday’s race, which for the first time in the event’s 26-year history will begin with a standing start.

But although he’ll be out front, Bourdais expects to encounter the usual trouble at the course’s notorious Turn 1, an infamous left-to-right hairpin and the site of numerous pileups in the past.

“I don’t think it’s going to have much of an effect,” Bourdais said of the new start, a Formula One fixture which was adopted by Champ Car officials two weeks ago at Portland. “The turn is very wide and very tempting. It funnels down. It’s a pretty tight corner, especially when you can’t take the line you’re used to having all weekend long. Everybody kind of feels like a hero in there.

“We’ll see, but I’m not expecting a clean start. It’s always going to be a mess here.”

Tracy is 10th

Paul Tracy, another two-time winner in Cleveland, was only 10th in 57.782 seconds — nearly one second slower than Bourdais — after having the second-best time during the early practice session.

“We tried some changes, but unfortunately it seems that we went in the wrong direction,” Tracy said. “During my quick lap I went off coming out of Turn 4, dropped a wheel in the dirt so I lost quite a bit of time.

“We’re close, now we’ll just have to go over the data and figure out where we have to be tomorrow.”

That’s the challenge for every team but Bourdais’ Newman-Haas-Lanigan crew, which seems to have the Frenchman’s machine finely tuned. Bourdais, who has won three straight races since finishing 13th to open the season at Las Vegas, is going for his fourth straight series championship.

Change in tires backfires

Looking to gain speed on Bourdais, Pagenaud switched to the alternate red tires, which typically perform better than black ones. However, the change backfired as he was unable to make up any time.

“We were expecting to have a shot at the pole,” said Pagenaud, whose best finish was fifth at Houston. “We tried with red tires, it just didn’t work the way we wanted. It’s not a problem. It’s just something we need to look at.”

For fellow rookie Graham Rahal, Day One in Cleveland wasn’t much different from what he has experienced at other stops. The 18-year-old son of Bobby Rahal, who won the inaugural Cleveland race in 1982, finished seventh but was slowed by traffic on a few laps as well as mechanical problems.

Except for a second-place finish in Houston, Rahal’s first season has included some bad luck.

“We ran the reds, but they weren’t faster and we wasted them,” he said. “We also had an oil leak and haven’t figured that out yet. So far it seems like another classic weekend for us where we haven’t been able to put it together.

“Eventually things have to start going our way and we can make something happen.”