JUSTIN WILSON has the provisional pole for Sunday's Champ Car race at Portland International Raceway, with a lap of 58.000secs or 121.903mph.

He already holds the Champ Car qualifying record for the circuit at 57.597secs/122.756mph set in 2005, but was understandably happy.

"The lap itself was feeling quite good," he said, "The option tyres just added more grip. We didn't actually touch the set-up between the two runs. We just put tyres on. It worked very well."

Second fastest Friday afternoon was rookie ROBERT DOORNBOS. He had upshift problems but otherwise is happy to be back on a 'normal' circuit. The first three Champ Car races were on street circuits. PIR is a 1.964-mile road course in a parklands setting. He said: "It's not a great car, to be honest, if you look on the paper, but it worked for the lap time."

Third fastest was three-time champion SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, who didn't have the best day. He ran out of fuel, and then, on the second run, had downshifting problems which have yet to be diagnosed.

"I hope we're going to find something on the set-up because otherwise I have no idea what happened," he said.

Besides being bummed about his qualifying session, Bourdais continues to be outspoken on his safety concerns about the proposed standing start for Sunday's Champ Car race. Bourdais is anxious about someone stalling at the front of the grid, "because obviously, by the time the backmarkers get to you, it could be a potentially pretty ugly crash. So we'll see."

Bourdais was alone in this opinion during the podium qualifying conference. Wilson and Doornbos, both with Formula One and European racing backgrounds, are enthusiastically eager for their first Champ Car standing start.

Wilson thinks standing starts are "definitely spectacular, very exciting, but at the same time it's not guaranteed that you won't stall".

"It doesn't seem like there's many things that the driver does that changes that," he continued, "It's just very random. When it happens, there's very little you can do. It's just pretty much on in four the car will stall and you don't know what you did wrong. So that makes you nervous."