• Welcome back to Portland International Raceway for the final round of CART FedEx Championship Series qualifying! The Champ Cars will once again follow the new qualifying format introduced in 2002 this weekend. Gone are the days of divided qualifying groups, as the 2002 season brings all Champ Cars on course in a single session that will require drivers to race for their starting position in Sunday's race.

• 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 race'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.

Additional qualifying enhancements include the establishment of a maximum of 15 timed laps per session with a guaranteed 45 minutes (of a 60-minute session) of green flag time at road course events. Additionally, all cars will qualify in one group. The penalty for creating a red flag situation in road course qualifying has also been changed. Drivers causing such conditions will now lose their fastest lap in that session rather than be parked for eight minutes in the pits as has been the case the last few seasons. The practice of carry-over penalties to the next race has also been abolished.

• POST LAGUNA SECA QUALIFYING UPDATE: As a response to last week's qualifying incident at Laguna Seca, CART has established seven "safe havens" this weekend where drivers can pull stricken cars off course and not incur the above-mentioned penalty for causing a red flag. The areas will be marked by horizontally-mounted orange cones and are in Turns 1, 5, 6, 7, 8 and 10 along with one halfway through the backstraight. Cars that can not reach these areas and stop during a qualifying session will be subject to the penalty for causing a red flag.

• In the morning practice session #4 JUNQUEIRA of Target Chip Ganassi Racing turned the fastest lap of the weekend at 58.939 seconds (120.267 mph).

• CART FedEx Championship Series Starter Jim Swintal displays the GREEN FLAG at 1:45 p.m. The Champ Cars now have the option to take the track for the final qualifying session.

• At 2 p.m., #55 DOMINGUEZ is first out.

• At 2:01 p.m., #55 DOMINGUEZ returns the pits shortly after reports of engine problems.

• At 2:10 p.m., #52 NAKANO is on course with his backup car, negating the times turned in the primary car in Friday qualifying.

• At 2:14 p.m., #33 TAGLIANI is the second car out.

• At 2:19 p.m., #39 ANDRETTI, #27 FRANCHITTI and #44 DIXON take the course.

• At 2:22 p.m., #33 TAGLIANI is fastest in the session at 59.547 seconds (119.039 mph). #51 FERNANDEZ exits the pits for qualifying.

• At 2:23 p.m., #27 FRANCHITTI turns a lap of 59.365 seconds (119.404 mph) to put him on top of the speed chart this session.

• At 2:27 p.m., #20 BELL takes the top spot this session at 59.226 seconds (119.686 mph).

• At 2:30 p.m., #4 JUNQUEIRA takes the pole with at 59.026 seconds (120.089 mph), but #6 DA MATTA takes it right back at 58.679 seconds (120.800 mph).

• At 2:31 p.m., #12 BRACK turns the second-fastest time of the session at 59.023 seconds (120.096 mph).

• At 2:33 p.m., The top three overall are now #6 DA MATTA at 58.679 seconds (120.800 mph), followed by #12 BRACK at 59.023 seconds (120.096 mph) and #4 JUNQUEIRA at 59.026 seconds (120.089 mph).

• At 2:42 p.m., #33 TAGLIANI improves to fourth at 59.185 seconds (119.767 mph).

• At 2:43 p.m., #8 VASSER has spun driver's left in Turn 1 and is stalled.

• CHECKERED FLAG on the final qualifying session. #6 DA MATTA of Newman/Haas Racing earns another championship point as a result of improving his provisional pole time to 59.679 seconds (120.800 mph). #12 BRACK of Target Chip Ganassi Racing will start on the outside of row one after his lap of 58.963 seconds (120.218 mph), followed by teammate #4 JUNQUEIRA at 59.026 seconds (120.089 mph).

• Bridgestone Tire engineers report that track temperatures ranged from 97° to 105° F and air temperature from 75° to 77° F during the final Champ Car qualifying session at Portland.

NOTEWORTHY:

CART President and CEO Chris Pook statement on Sigma Autosport's withdrawal: "Certainly we are not happy that the Sigma team is not participating this weekend. But each one of our racing operations is a private enterprise that has to operate its own business. Although it would be inappropriate of us to speak to their business affairs, in most circumstances, when a car is not participating on a race weekend after being entered it comes down to finances. Sigma has been extremely competitive this year on what has been known to be a limited budget. Hopefully they will be able to clear this hurdle."

CHAMP CAR TOP THREE OVERALL QUALIFIER QUOTES

CRISTIANO DA MATTA (#6 Chevron Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): "I'm very pleased with how everything has come together this weekend. Everything has gone smooth up to this point. I was worried about qualifying because I didn't think we were gaining a lot with newer tires each session. I think we have control over the car right now but the Ganassi cars are going to be following closely for sure, along with [teammate] Christian [Fittipaldi]. It is a very hard track physically and also one of the longest we run all year. It should be a pretty interesting race."

KENNY BRACK (#12 Target Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): "The Target car is a very good car of course so far. It's not a good enough car to overtake da Matta up to this point, but you can be sure we'll keep working on it." (On the race tomorrow) "It's going to be the type of race it's always been here- a sprint race. But I think three to four stops might get it done, depending on how cautions play out. Some guys might be able to come from the back and win here as was the case in Long Beach."

BRUNO JUNQUEIRA (#4 Target Toyota/Lola/Bridgestone): (On having a third entry from the Ganassi stable this season) "The biggest difference for us is that our transporter is crowded. Sometimes you want to go over and talk with the Toyota engineers, but you can't because there are already so many people in there. But Kenny [Brack] and I haven't changed anything in our racing strategy at all. Team Target is more than prepared to handle three cars and I think we've been successful."

• This concludes the CART FedEx Championship Series pit notes for Saturday, June 15, 2002 from Portland International Raceway. The Champ Cars gear up in tomorrow's warm-up session at 9 a.m. followed by the 12:30 p.m. start of the CART FedEx Championship Series G.I. Joe's 200. We'll see you tomorrow morning for raceday! Good night!