Oriol Servia grabs pole in Paradise

An aerial view showing the Surfers Paradise street circuit as racers begin the second practice session for the Indy 300 on the Gold Coast, Australia, yesterday. PHOTO: AP

Oriol Servia took pole position yesterday at the Lexmark Indy 300, forcing his Newman/Haas teammate Sebastien Bourdais to wait another day before clinching the 2005 Champ Car series title.

Servia the lead with about 10 minutes left in the session and held on as Bourdais finished just .51 of a second behind with less than a minute to go. Bourdais, who had the fifth-fastest time overall Saturday, needed just one point by winning the qualifying session to clinch the title.

"Things were working so smooth -- the car, the tires, everything was great," said Servia. "I think we're starting in the best possible position, so we're all ready for tomorrow."

Bourdais clinch the series title by simply taking the green flag Sunday -- he can be placed as low as 19th and last in the field to take the title. On Friday, he won the first qualifying session, guaranteeing himself a spot in the front of the grid.

It would be the first back-to-back championships in the 23-year history of the Newman/Haas team owned by actor Paul Newman and former racer Carl Haas.

Under skies and temperatures of 31?C on the 4.47km temporary street course, Servia finished in a time of 1 minute, 32.616 seconds, a speed of 174.8kph.

Bourdais he had taken the pole when his final lap on the track was faster than Servia's time. But Bourdais had crossed the start line 1.6 seconds too late, and despite thinking his lap was a good one -- his team didn't tell him by radio -- it did not count because the checkered flag was out.

He has 311 points while Servia has 244 and Tracy 216. Neither can catch Bourdais based on available points from the Australian race or Mexico City on Nov. 6.

Servia joined the Newman/Haas team eight weeks ago when its other driver, Bruno Junqueira, the defending champion here, suffered a serious back injury at the Indianapolis 500.

Bourdais also the only driver to be running at the finish of each of the 11 Champ Car races this season. Only four drivers have done that since 1956, most recently Jimmy Vasser in 1996.

Mario Dominguez, the 2002 champion here, was third-fastest, followed by Cristiano da Matta, who won this race in 2001 and is the current lap record holder from 2002.

Tracy, the 1995 winner in Australia, will start fifth on the grid. All three will be trying to win the race for the second time -- there have been 14 different winners in the history of the race.