No Hand needed for Joey in qualifying

Californian Joey Hand returned to the site of his Toyota Atlantic debut and blitzed the rest of the field in his BG Products Swift-Toyota to take pole position for a race tat has traditionally been very kind to his DTSP Motorsports team.

DTSP Motorsports Joey Hand today captured his second career CART Toyota Atlantic pole position ahead of Sunday's second round of the 2002 Atlantic Championship series at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. Hand's performance marks his third consecutive front row starting spot (2nd in Monterrey, Mexico, last month and pole at last season's series finale at Laguna Seca), as well as his second consecutive front row starting spot at Long Beach after joining the Atlantic series last year with DSTP.

"I love this place," said Hand, who set a fastest time on Saturday of 1:18.290 minutes (90.494 miles per hour) in the closing laps of the 30-minute session.

"That session went well for us. We've had a great car all weekend, be we hadn't had a chance to show it. The crew kept plucking away and standing behind me every session even though we were down on the charts. We finally got the one flyer we had been missing out on all weekend and it was just what we needed. The traffic has been my biggest problem, but I finally got a clear opening and was able to lay down a good time.

"Long Beach is where I started last year, and it was a good start to the season. Tomorrow is going to be a great race."

In 2001's Long Beach Atlantic race, Hand started second, jumped into the lead for six laps, and finished third is first career Atlantic race. Hand went on to win the Rookie of the Year title and finished third overall in the season championship. DSTP Motorsports won the 2000 Long Beach Atlantic race in its rookie season with driver Buddy Rice (who started third), who went on to win the 2000 CART Toyota Atlantic championship title.

"This race has always been very good to us," said Dede Rogers, DSTP Motorsports team owner. "We came here with high expectations and everyone on the team really wants to win this one. We're all so proud of Joey. He came through in a pinch and put us on the front row. We're all excited and looking forward to another great race tomorrow."

With Ryan Hunter-Reay starting second, Sunday's race marks the first all-American front row since 2000, where Rice and Case Montgomery shared the front row at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. Vancouver, BC's, Michael Valiante will start third.