PORTLAND, Ore., June 14 (UPI) -- Cristiano da Matta Friday captured the provisional pole position for Sunday's G.I. Joe's 200 at Portland International speedway.
Driving a Toyota, da Matta turned in the days' fastest lap at 59.083 seconds and posted an average speed of 119.974 miles per hour. The effort allowed da Matta to extend his championship points lead to six over Michel Jourdain Jr.
Qualfiying continues on Saturday but da Matta is guaranteed to start on the pole for Sunday's race.
"It's big relief, because I know I'll be on the pole no matter what happens tomorrow," said da Matta, who claimed his first CART pole last week at Laguna Seca.
"I was surprised how much better the track got during the session. In the past, the track here at Portland had gotten very slowly. Today it awas 0.3-0.4 seconds between runs."
Kenny Brack finished second in a Toyota, circling the track in 59.168 seconds with an average speed of 119.801 miles per hour.
"Today was very close," Brack observed. "I think the Target team has found a very good road course to setup, but we still have some work to do in race situations."
Christian Fittapaldi placed third in a Toyota, and was followed by Dario Franchitti in a Honda. Townsend Bell rounded out the top five in a Toyota.
