Servia grabs pole at Indy on the Gold Coast

Newman-Haas ChampCar teammates, Sebastien Bourdais and Oriol Servia, have locked up the front row during the final qualifying session at the Lexmark Indy 300 on the Gold Coast today.

PacifiCare Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone driver Servia secured pole position with a forceful lap of 1:32.616 with just three minutes to go in the session. His first ever ChampCar pole, the position makes it Servia's fourth front row start in the last five races of the US-based open-wheel racing series.

McDonald's Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone teammate and defending series champion Bourdais could not match the pace of Servia posting a best lap of 1:33.211. Though slower than the rest of the top five in the session, the 26-year-old Frenchman's performance in the first qualifying session on Friday guaranteed him a front row start under ChampCar rules.

A pole position at the Gold Coast would have given Bourdais the points he required to clinch the 2005 title. He needs only face to the starter tomorrow to complete his successful defense.

Second fastest in the session and third on the grid for tomorrow's 300-mile race was Forsythe Racing's Mario Dominguez, with a lap of 1:32.667. The 2002 Gold Coast race winner was the first driver to break into the 1:32 range during the session.

Bell Micro team driver Brazilian Cristiano da Matta (1:32.753) will start from fourth place on the grid ahead of Dominguez's teammate, Paul Tracy (1:32.976). Tracy's plans to spoil the Servia/Bourdais party were cut short when the Forsythe Racing driver clipped the wall with less than three minutes to go.