• Welcome back to Montreal's Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve for this afternoon's final session (1:45–2:45 p.m.) of CART FedEx Championship Series qualifying in preparation for tomorrow's inaugural Molson Indy Montreal. The skies have cleared and at 1:40 p.m. the temperature is 72° F (22° C) with 69 percent humidity and a 2 mph wind from the East.

• In this morning's practice session #6 DA MATTA of Newman/Haas Racing turned the fastest lap of the weekend at 1:19.332 (122.931 mph/197.838 km/h). In the first round of qualifying yesterday, #6 DA MATTA scored a championship point for his provisional pole time of 1:19.465 (122.726 mph/197.508 km/h). A spot on the front row and another valuable championship point is up for grabs this afternoon in the second qualifying session.

• 2002 QUALIFYING FORMAT: The return of Friday qualifying at street circuits and road courses and a revised qualifying procedure will see the fastest driver from each day of qualifying awarded a championship point. Each day's pole winner will again be determined by the fastest lap of both Friday and Saturday qualifying sessions, but the provisional pole winner will be guaranteed a front row starting spot regardless of the outcome of final qualifying.

• QUALIFYING UPDATE-–ROAD COURSE QUALIFYING: By resolution of the Franchise Owners on Saturday, August 17, 2002, the procedures for qualifying at road course events have been modified and the following revisions to the 2002 CART Champ Car Rule Book are in effect immediately. The duration of the session shall be 60 minutes. The session will be divided into three segments. The first segment shall be an open practice of a duration to be determined by CART. The second segment shall be no cars running for a duration to be determined by CART. The final segment shall be qualifying for a duration to be determined by CART, of which green flag conditions must be in effect for at least 30 minutes. The session duration shall be extended beyond 60 minutes until the 30-minute green time requirement is met … Qualifying Tires: Non-qualifying tires shall be permitted during the first open practice segment of the session. Tires used during the first open practice, if not qualifying tires, must be completely removed from the pit box before the start of the final qualifying segment of the session. The standard Red flag procedures shall be in effect during the first open practice segment of the session and the final qualifying segment of the session.

• CART FedEx Championship Series Starter Jim Swintal displays the GREEN FLAG at 1:48 p.m. The Champ Cars now have the option to take the track during the pre-qualifying practice session.

• At 1:54 p.m., #12 BRACK is fastest at 1:21.233 (120.055 mph/193.210 km/h) on his third lap.

• At 1:55 p.m., #33 TAGLIANI is fastest in his backup car at 1:20.330 (121.404 mph/195.381 km/h) on his fifth lap.

• At 1:57 p.m., #10 KANAAN off and on in Turn 6 and continues.

• At 1:58 p.m., #32 CARPENTIER turns the fastest lap of the session at 1:20.097 (121.757 mph/195.949 km/h) on his sixth lap. Just over one minute remaining in the time-certain session.

• At 1:59 p.m., #26 TRACY is fastest at 1:20.091 (121.766 mph/195.963 km/h) on his sixth lap.

• CHECKERED FLAG at 2:00 p.m. #11 FITTIPALDI moves to third on the speed chart at 1:20.234 (121.549 mph/195.614 km/h) on his seventh lap. #26 TRACY of Team KOOL Green remained fastest in the session at 1:20.091 (121.766 mph/195.963 km/h), followed by #32 CARPENTIER of Player's/Forsythe Racing at 1:20.097 (121.757 mph/195.949 km/h) and #11 FITTIPALDI of Newman/Haas Racing.

• CART FedEx Championship Series Starter Jim Swintal displays the GREEN FLAG at 2:10 p.m. for the 35-minute qualifying session.

• At 2:16 p.m., #55 DOMINGUEZ first off pit lane.

• At 2:20 p.m., #8 VASSER on course.

• At 2:21 p.m., #52 NAKANO, #9 JOURDAIN and #26 TRACY join the fray.

• At 2:22 p.m., #5 TAKAGI, #20 SERVIA, #32 CARPENTIER, #10 KANAAN, #39 ANDRETTI and #27 FRANCHITTI on course.

• At 2:23 p.m., #33 TAGLIANI on course in his backup car, negating his provisional qualifying time.

• At 2:24 p.m., #12 BRACK, #11 FITTIPALDI, #4 JUNQUEIRA and #51 FERNANDEZ on course. #51 FERNANDEZ will throw out his provisional qualifying time after elected to go with the backup car. #55 DOMINGUEZ fastest at 1:21.067 (120.303 mph/193.609 km/h).

• At 2:26 p.m., Newman/Haas Racing teammates #6 DA MATTA and #11 FITTIPALDI are the final two cars to leave pit lane.

• At 2:26 p.m., #27 FRANCHITTI fastest in the session at 1:20.820 (121.833 mph/194.462 km/h) on his fourth lap.

• RED FLAG at 2:30 p.m., for #39 ANDRETTI who is stopped driver's left between Turns 4 and 5 and #20 SERVIA who is slow between Turns 11 and 12 without power and smoking from the rear. #4 JUNQUEIRA turns the fastest lap of the weekend and takes the pole at 1:19.446 (122.755 mph/197.555 km/h) on his fourth lap. #6 DA MATTA sits second overall in qualifying on the strength of his provisional pole time, followed by #32 CARPENTIER in third at 1:19.510 (122.656 mph/197.396 km/h) on his sixth lap.

• At 2:35 p.m., The Simple Green CART Safety Team continues clean up in Turns 11 to 14 through the Pit In area for a massive amount of fluid that #20 SERVIA put down on the fastest portion of the track. #39 ANDRETTI and #20 SERVIA have both lost their fastest timed qualifying laps this session for causing the stoppage.

• GREEN FLAG at 2:52 p.m. Just over nine minutes of GREEN FLAG time remain in qualifying. #39 ANDRETTI elects to go to the backup car and forfeits his provisional qualifying time.

• At 2:53 p.m., #55 DOMINGUEZ is off in the runoff driver's left between Turns 2 and 3.

• At 2:57 p.m., #4 JUNQUEIRA takes a very rough ride off course after shortcutting Turns 8 and 9 and continues.

• At 2:58 p.m., #27 FRANCHITTI takes the pole at 1:19.375 (122.865 mph/197.732 km/h) on his 10th lap.

• At 2:59 p.m., #4 JUNQUEIRA takes the pole at 1:19.347 (122.908 mph/197.801 km/h) on his eighth lap. #6 DA MATTA improves to second at 1:19.396 (122.832 mph/197.679 km/h).

• At 3 p.m., #27 FRANCHITTI retakes the pole at 1:19.334 (122.928 mph/197.833 km/h) on his 11th lap. Now #6 DA MATTA takes the pole at 1:19.139 (123.231 mph/198.321 km/h) on his eighth lap. #39 ANDRETTI off course driver's left exiting the hairpin in Turn 10 and will remain there for the remainder of the session.

• At 3:01 p.m., #6 DA MATTA goes faster at 1:19.117 (123.266 mph/198.377 km/h) on his ninth lap.

• CHECKERED FLAG. #6 DA MATTA of Newman/Haas Racing improves again on his 10th and final lap to 1:18.959 (123.512 mph/198.773 km/h) and grabs another championship point with the pole position for tomorrow's inaugural CART FedEx Championship Series Molson Indy Montreal. #27 FRANCHITTI of Team KOOL Green qualified second overall at 1:19.334 (122.928 mph/197.833 km/h), followed by #4 JUNQUEIRA of Target Chip Ganassi Racing at 1:19.347 (122.908 mph/197.801 km/h).

• Bridgestone Tire engineers report that track temperatures ranged from 102° F (39° C) to 103° F (39° C), and air temperature remained a constant 80° F (27° C), during the final session of Champ Car qualifying for the CART FedEx Championship Series Molson Indy Montreal.

CHAMP CAR TOP-THREE QUALIFIER QUOTES

CRISTIANO DA MATTA (#6 Havoline Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): “It feels good but I also didn't know what was coming behind me out there. When I did a 19.1 [1:19.100] I didn't know what would happen next with the other guys. I just kept pushing. The clock in my car stopped working so I had to go as fast as I could until I saw the checkered flag. My only concern was just to push it.” (On the level of difficulty compared to other qualifying sessions this year) “This one was pretty difficult but I think the most difficult was at Elkhart Lake last weekend. It happened Friday because Bruno [Junqueira] got it [pole] back in Saturday's session. They are all difficult sessions, but this one wasn't the closest.”

DARIO FRANCHITTI (#26 KOOL Honda/Lola/Bridgestone): “After the weekend we had, second feels like a pretty good result. We made some gains this morning on older tires, so we didn't know how that would transfer into qualifying. I'm very happy to be second after all the struggles we've had this weekend.” (On the Canadian fans and the huge turnout today) “It's pretty impressive when you see all the fans, with the stands full and the reaction to the Player's [Forsythe Racing] guys. They have a passion here. As drivers we love seeing that. What can I say? It's everything I'd hoped it would be.”

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA (#4 Target Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): “After all the problems we had yesterday, I'm happy with the result today. I think we'll have to improve a little bit for the race to put a little pressure on Cristiano. This morning I couldn't attack the corners and I had a problem braking. I talked to my engineers and we're working on it.”

• This concludes the CART FedEx Championship Series pit notes for Saturday, August 24, 2002 from Montreal. We'll see you tomorrow morning for more “Real Racing. Real Sport,” on race day as the Champ Cars gear up in tomorrow's warm-up session at 10 a.m. followed by the 2 p.m. ET (SPEED Channel Live) start of the CART FedEx Championship Series Molson Indy Montreal. Good night!