Record falls as De Ferran hits 241 mph.

Marlboro Team Penske driver Gil De Ferran wrote his name in the record books on Saturday as he took his Reynard-Honda around the two-mile Fontana Superspeedway at an average speed of 241.428 mph for a best lap of 30.255 seconds and his fifth pole position of the 2000 season.

De Ferran also picked up an extra championship point for his troubles and eliminated Roberto Moreno from the Championship equation as Adrian Fernandez, Paul Tracy and Kenny Brack had their task on Sunday made even tougher.

Fernandez must win and hope De Ferran finishes third or lower although if De Ferran finishes third and leads the most laps he will take the title by a point. Tracy must win and hope De Ferran doesn't score and Fernandez finishes lower than sixth while Brack must do the same and lead most laps if he is to win the crown in his rookie season. However, there are 500 long miles between any of them and the 2000 CART title and so many other factors have to be put into the equation.

Michael Andretti will be looking to crash the Championship party and take his third win of the year on his final appearance in the colours of Newman-Haas and he will start alongside De Ferran on the front row after setting a best lap of 30.550 seconds in his Lola-Ford. Andretti's team-mate Christian Fittipaldi was again a major threat as he attempts to win his first race of the ear and the Brazilian was just three thousandths slower than the American.

De Ferran's team-mate Helio Castroneves will start fourth with a best lap of 30.561 seconds and both Team Penske drivers were full of praise for their Honda engines and overall set-up going into the race.

Juan Montoya was left mystified with his lack of speed after setting the pace in practice with an unofficial best mark of over 242 mph and he faded to fifth in the leading Toyota powered car while Jimmy Vasser rose from eleventh in practice to sixth in the second Target/Chip Ganassi entry.

Dario Franchitti continued to occupy a safe spot inside the top ten and his 30.795 second best was good enough for sixth position, albeit more than half a second down on De Ferran while rack ended the session in eighth position and the best placed of De Ferran's challengers.

Paul Tracy also looks handily placed in ninth overall and he will be relying on Team KOOL Green's exceptional pit-work on Sunday to give him a vital edge over the two Penske owned Reynard-Honda's.

Alex Tagliani and Patrick Carpentier both improved their times greatly after struggling to make the top 20 on Friday and will line up 10th and 11th respectively. Team-boss Gerald Forsythe, who announced a partnership with German team Zakspeed next year, will undoubtedly be having a quiet word with both drivers on the eve of the race after the two conspired to run into each other at Vancouver earlier this year.

Tony Kanaan felt the disadvantage of not having a single wastegate engine more than most on Saturday as he dropped out of the top ten into twelfth although he was still comfortably the fastest Mercedes powered runner in the firm's farewell Champ Car appearance.

Max Papis struggled for grip in the second Team Rahal car and finished the day in 13th just one spot ahead of Fernandez. The Mexican driver won last year's race from 13th spot and so he has to go just one place better than that this time by if he wants to give himself an honest shout of the title in his last race for the Patrick team.

Casey Mears qualified a superb 15th on his debut appearance in CART ahead of both PPI Motorsports entries, Oriol Servia and Cristiano Da Matta (16th and 18th) both looking less than cheerful after the recent events within the team.

The man who was eliminated from title contention on Saturday, Roberto Moreno was only 19th fastest in his Patrick Racing Reynard-Ford but despite the title situation and his lowly grid position Moreno was smiling broadly as what has been a fantastic year for the likable Brazilian draws to a close.

All the questions that have arisen throughout the year will be answered during the next 500 miles of racing and only one man can ultimately be victorious. None of them deserve to lose the title as they have all played a part in the closest Championship battle in the history of what is becoming one of the biggest global Championships in the world.