Laguna pole sends de Ferran into a spin.

Gil de Ferran gained another crucial Championship point in his quest for a second consecutive CART FedEx title by claiming pole position at an unusually warm Laguna Seca Raceway before getting a bit hot under the collar himself and spinning his Marlboro Team Penske Reynard-Honda into the tyre barrier bringing Saturday's qualifying session to a premature end just as it looked as though Helio Castroneves was about to depose him from pole.

Defending CART FedEx champion de Ferran continued to demoralise his Championship opposition by taking pole position for Sunday's Honda Grand Prix of Monterey featuring the Shell 300 at Laguna Seca and increasing his points lead over Kenny Brack to eleven with three races remaining including Sunday's 83 lap affair around the tortuous twists and turns of the 2.238-mile circuit in the rolling hills and vineyards of the Monterey Peninsula.

However not all of de Ferran's were happy with the way in which he clinched pole for just seconds after setting fastest time of the session (1:08.596) he lost control of his Marlboro Team Penske Reynard-Honda rounding turn three and thwacked the tyre barrier with enough to temporarily halt him and bring out the red flag with one minute of the second qualifying groups sole 30 minute qualifying session in a scenario that mirrored that of Mid Ohio last year but without the barrel roll that followed.

Unfortunately (or should that read fortunately?) several of de Ferran's remaining Championship adversaries were banking on a last minute flying lap to elevate them from poor grid positions while the probable pole position lap that was half way to being completed by Friday practice leader and defending Laguna Seca pole winner Helio Castroneves was registered null and void. To be fair, Patrick Carpentier had also just pulled off the circuit towards turn eight and with many drivers on very committed laps, CART had to eliminate even the remotest possibility of another serious accident although the fact that after sitting stationary for long enough, de Ferran then plucked his car out of the tyres and continued unaided back to the pits.

Castroneves for once was not his usual chirpy self in the immediate aftermath of qualifying, as he was sure that his abandoned lap would have been good enough to aid his dimming championship hopes, especially as Laguna Seca is notoriously tough to overtake around. Still, of the remaining 25 cars that will take the start for Sunday's race, Castroneves will have the best chance of all to beat de Ferran into turn one for his best lap of 1 minute 08.678 seconds was good enough for a place on the outside of the front row alongside his teammate.

Among the others who felt aggrieved about the premature end of the session were de Ferran's title rivals Brack and Dario Franchitti, both of whom now find themselves languishing in the second half of the grid after having their last flying lap negated. Brack still looked all at sea with his Team Rahal Lola-Ford set-up and will start 15th, while Franchitti too was befuddled by the characteristics of his Team KOOL Green Reynard-Honda and will start a disastrous 23rd with a best time more than two seconds slower than de Ferran after he too had his fastest lap discounted.

Michael Andretti will also have a major task on his hands on Sunday if he wishes to remain in title contention after suffering with gearbox troubles in the closing minutes of qualifying which prevented him from moving above 17th position.

Faring far better, despite a late spin, was Rookie of the Year to be Scott Dixon, who led Saturday morning's final practice session before setting a best lap of 1 minute 08.972 seconds and securing third place on the grid for PacWest Racing. Roberto Moreno, too, continued his fine practice form and held pole position early on in the final 30-minute blast before settling for fourth place in his Patrick Racing Reynard-Toyota.

Once again, those drivers with Reynard chassis seemed to fare better than those running the Lola counterpart, but even so it was something of a surprise to see the top seven qualifiers and 12 of the top 14 qualifiers all with Reynard chassis as only Cristiano da Matta (Newman Haas Racing) and Bruno Junqueira (Target Chip Ganassi Racing) made it onto the front seven rows of the grid.

Laguna Seca pole-meister Bryan Herta found himself not on pole position for the second year running, but consoled himself with being the fastest driver in the first qualifying group with a lap good enough for fifth overall when all was said and done while Paul Tracy, Tony Kanaan, da Matta, Alex Tagliani and Carpentier rounded out the top ten.

After masterfully controlling 100 laps of the tight and twisty Houston circuit almost at will last weekend, it could take a minor miracle for messers Brack, Andretti and Franchitti to halt de Ferran's late season title charge for although the 33 year old Brazilian cannot wrap up the title this weekend he can take a major step towards the ultimate prize with an unmolested run on Sunday.