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Gil de Ferran's decision to not qualify his backup car after Saturday morning's car-to-car encounter with rookie Gaulter Salles pays off as Zanardi, posting Saturday qualifying's best time of 51.665, cannot continue his record pole-sitting streak by fallingshort of de Ferran's Friday mark of 51.293. Salles qualified his car in the number 18 spotwith a time of 52.838. Little Al's woes continue (though hopefully he can run better thanthe first two series events) as he qualifies 15th in the field. The first eight rows are:
| Row | Car# | Driver | Time |
| 1 | 5 | Gil de Ferran | 51.293 |
| 4 | Alex Zanardi | 51.665 | |
| 2 | 17 | Mauricio Gugelmin | 51.745 |
| 20 | Scott Pruett | 51.795 | |
| 3 | 6 | Michael Andretti | 51.834 |
| 11 | Roberto Moreno | 51.911 | |
| 4 | 8 | Bryan Herta | 52.016 |
| 7 | Bobby Rahal | 52.020 | |
| 5 | 99 | Greg Moore | 52.035 |
| 1 | Jimmy Vasser | 52.046 | |
| 6 | 3 | Paul Tracy | 52.067 |
| 40 | Raul Boesel | 52.070 | |
| 7 | 27 | Parker Johnstone | 52.186 |
| 18 | Mark Blundell | 52.609 | |
| 8 | 2 | Al Unser Jr. | 52.653 |
| 21X | Richie Hearn | 52.654 |
Be sure to check SpeedCenter for the complete starting Grid under our coverageof the Long Beach Gran Prix elsewhere on our site. 