Tracy keeps truckin', wins provisional pole

WEST KINGSDOWN, England May 3, 2003; The AP reported that Paul Tracy is on the verge of becoming the first CART driver to win the first four races of the season.

Tracy won the provisional pole Saturday for the London Champ Car Trophy, securing a spot on the front row for Monday's race.

Tracy turned a fast lap of 37.006 seconds at an average speed of 115.960 mph on the narrow 1.192-mile circuit at Brands Hatch.

"I guess I'm starting to impress myself," Tracy said. "I really laid it down on the last lap and it was breathtaking."

Bruno Junqueira of Newman-Haas was second in 37.022, and teammate Sebastien Bourdais was third in 37.112. Oriol Servia (37.254), Darren Manning (37.565) and Patrick Carpentier (37.580) rounded out the top six. Final qualifying is Sunday.

Tracy will start on the front row for the fourth time this season.

Cristiano da Matta, Alex Zanardi and Al Unser Jr. are the only drivers to win four straight races since CART debuted in 1979, but those victories came in midseason.

The record for consecutive victories in American open-wheel racing and victories to start the season is seven by A.J. Foyt in 1964, when USAC sanctioned the races. Foyt won 10 of 13 races that year.

"When you're winning your confidence goes up," Tracy said. "When you're not winning and things aren't going well, that's when you put pressure on yourself to do well."

Tracy has an advantage at the historic Brands Hatch track, which is hosting its first American open-wheel race in 25 years. He ran 10 Formula 2000 races in 1986-87.

"It's a long time since I drove on the track, but once you get out there it's still the same track," Tracy said. "I was able to pick it up quite quickly. The pole takes a little bit of the pressure off tomorrow."

Tracy earned a point for taking the provisional pole, increasing his lead over Junqueria in the season standings to 27 points.

Qualifying is being run one car at a time because of the narrow course. Each driver has four laps to record a best time. The same rules apply Sunday with the quickest drivers from Saturday going out last.