• The second round of CART FedEx Championship Series qualifying for the Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Shell 300 is set for a 1:45 p.m. start and will officially set Sunday's starting grid.

• NOTEWORTHY: Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca announced its 2003 racing schedule this afternoon highlighted by a return date for the CART FedEx Championship Series in June. In addition to the CART event are dates with the SBK World Superbike Championship, Monterey Historic Automobile Races, the American Le Mans Series and a U.S. Sports Car Invitational …”It took a lot of work on all parties involved, but announcing our schedule at an early date will allow for proper planning by race fans, race teams and sponsors, as well as Monterey Peninsula-area businesses that are involved in our major race weekends,” said Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca General Manager Gill Campbell. “It allows us to plan construction schedules as we go forward with our $50 million capital improvements project that was started this past February.”

• CART FedEx Championship Series Starter Jim Swintal waves the GREEN FLAG at 1:45 p.m. to open the final session of qualifying for the Champ Cars.

• At 2 p.m., #52 NAKANO is first out followed by #55 DOMINGUEZ.

• At 2:03 p.m., #39 ANDRETTI is out.

• RED FLAG at 2:05 p.m. for #55 DOMINGUEZ who is stopped in the middle of the course in Turn 7. He will lose his fastest recorded lap in this session for causing the stoppage 1:13.767 (109.220 mph).

• GREEN FLAG at 2:10 p.m.

• At 2:15 p.m., #26 TRACY turns his fastest lap of the weekend at 1:10.626 (114.077 mph) and earns the seventh spot on the grid.

• At 2:18 p.m., #44 DIXON off and on in Turn 6.

• At 2:20 p.m., #4 JUNQUEIRA laps at 1:10.305 (114.598 mph) and earns the fifth spot on the grid.

• At 2:22 p.m., #6 DA MATTA tops the weekend speed charts with a 1:09.473 (115.970 mph) on his fourth lap. #27 FRANCHITTI off and on in Turn 8 and 8A.

• At 2:25 p.m., The top five on the grid are #6 DA MATTA (1:09.473), #12 BRACK (1:09.575), #32 CARPENTIER (1:10.218), #10 KANAAN (1:10.264) and #33 TAGLIANI (1:10.269). Twenty minutes remain in the session.

• At 2:26 p.m., The team of #55 DOMINGUEZ goes to the back up car, a move that will negate his times this session.

• At 2:29 p.m., #33 TAGLIANI puts all four wheels off in Turn 6 and continues.

• At 2:30 p.m., #6 DA MATTA (1:09.473) remains on pole followed by #12 BRACK (1:09.575), #11 FITTIPALDI (1:10.184), #32 CARPENTIER (1:10.218) and #10 KANAAN (1:10.264).

• At 2:31 p.m., #55 DOMINGUEZ runs a 1:10.342 in his backup car. The move has paid off so far for Herdez Competition as their driver now sits 10th on the grid.

• At 2:34 p.m., #4 JUNQUEIRA turns the third-fastest time at 1:09.759.

• At 2:38 p.m., #6 DA MATTA is losing momentum and is now smoking heavily as he makes his way to pit lane. #10 KANAAN turns in the fourth-fastest time at 1:10.043.

• At 2:39 p.m., #32 CARPENTIER spun and continued at Turn 6.

• At 2:41 p.m., #6 DA MATTA is still on pole, followed by #12 BRACK, #4 JUNQUEIRA, #10 KANAAN and #11 FITTIPALDI. #10 KANAAN spun and continued in Turn 3.

• CHECKERED FLAG at 2:45 p.m., #6 DA MATTA earns a championship point and is your pole sitter for tomorrow's CART FedEx Championship Series Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Shell 300 after turning in the fastest lap of the weekend at 1:09.473 (115.970 mph). #12 BRACK will start on the outside of row one with a 1:09.575 (115.800 mph), #4 JUNQUEIRA with a 1:09.759 (115.495 mph), #10 KANAAN with a 1:10.043 (115.026 mph) and #11 FITTIPALDI with a 1:10.184 (114.795 mph).

• Bridgestone Tire engineers report that track temperatures ranged from 116° to 120° F and air temperature from 73° to 79° F during the final Champ Car qualifying session at Mazda Raceway.

CHAMP CAR TOP-THREE OVERALL QUALIFIER QUOTES

CRISTIANO DA MATTA: (#6 Chevron Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): “I was able to go out and turn a fast lap as early as three laps in. Our car has been coming up to speed quite quickly. We‘re happy to be on pole, but we're not happy about finishing the qualifying session short. I would have liked to have fought it out to the end.” (On having his motor expire late in the session) “I know some guys are pretty mad at me right now for staying out on the track and putting some oil down. When you have everything happening so quickly you think about getting back to the pits and not what your opponents are doing.” (On starting from pole for the first time) “The field we have here in CART is never an easy one to work through with all the competition, especially with guys like Kenny [Brack] and Bruno [Junqueira]. But we have a good car and the team and I are confident.”

KENNY BRACK: (#12 Target Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): “I think our car was pretty good in the end of the session today until we hit some oil back there on the track. We have every chance to do well here tomorrow though. Starting out front here is almost a necessity and is obviously very important.” (On da Matta's engine expiring) “Maybe he could have gotten off line or done something a little different, but it's hard to say in that situation.”

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA: (#4 Target Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): “I thought that we could improve a little on our time from Friday's qualifying. When we qualified today I got a good lap in, but I thought we could have made some positive changes in the car setup. In the end we played it safe because it's consistency that is important to the team in order to win the championship.”

NOTEWORTHY:

• CART officials handed down a $10,000 fine for unsportsmanlike conduct for Newman/Haas Racing driver CRISTIANO DA MATTA (#6 Chevron Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone) after he remained on track after his engine blew and proceeded to drive into the pit instead of pulling off course during qualifying.

• MICHAEL ANDRETTI (#39 Motorola Honda/Lola/Bridgestone) was fined $2,500 just as qualifying ended today for a pit-speed violation. Andretti was clocked at 60mph in the 50mph zone on his final in-lap entering pit lane.

• TORA TAKAGI (#5 Pioneer/Denso Special Toyota/Reynard/Bridgestone) claimed the eighth position in qualifying for Sunday's Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Shell 300, making him the only driver during the first five races of the season to have improved his starting position every week. The Walker Racing driver has started 15th, 12th, 11th and 10th in the first four races before taking the eighth spot Saturday.

• TOYOTA'S sweep of the top-three spots in Saturday's qualifying marked the first time in the 2002 season that a single manufacturer has turned the trick. It also is the first time that any manufacturer has swept the first three grid positions since Honda's trio of TONY KANAAN, HELIO CASTRONEVES and ADRIAN FERNANDEZ (#51 Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex Honda/Lola).

• This concludes the CART FedEx Championship Series pit notes for Saturday, June 8, 2002 from Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The Champ Cars gear up in tomorrow's warm-up session at 9:30 a.m. followed by the 1:30 p.m. start of the CART FedEx Championship Series Bridgestone Grand Prix of Monterey Featuring the Shell 300. We'll see you tomorrow morning for raceday! Good night!