Sorry 21st for underpowered Blundell.

Mark Blundell has another mountain to climb on Sunday in the final round of this year's Fed-Ex Championship if he is to sign off his PacWest career with a victory after he could only manage 21st position on the grid.

Blundell's PacWest Reynard-Mercedes suffered from a lack of qualifying torque around the two-mile Fontana Superspeedway and the Englishman could only record a best lap of 31.642 seconds during his qualifying run. Mark's best lap was a full 1.3-seconds slower than Gil De Ferran's record-breaking mark of 30.255 seconds.

In Mercedes' last race as an engine supplier in the series, the fact that there is no single wastegate qualifying engine from the German concern cost both Mark and PacWest team-mate Mauricio Gugelmin dearly and the Brazilian will join Mark on the eleventh row after having to call on his back-up car for the final session.

A lack of straight-line speed was the only real complaint from both drivers although Mark also had to contend with a slightly loose chassis, a problem that has been the cars' bugbear throughout the year.

Reliability will be the key for both drivers on Sunday, as they will have plenty of other cars around them to slipstream off and make up for their relative lack of grunt. Mark, who won the inaugural California 500 in 1997, was feeling positive about making the finish in what will be one of the most gruelling races of the year. Gugelmin echoed Mark's feeling with the remark, "our day will come, we just need more horsepower."

The team will work late into the night trying to solve the understeer problem once and for all in Mark's final race with the team that has been his sole home in CART since he crossed the Atlantic for the first time in 1996. After a thoroughly miserable year in which he has only scored 18 points in 19 races, Mark is desperate to end the year on a high note as he attempts to secure a full-time ride in the series next year.