All eyes on Valiante at Toronto.

Lynx Racing has won three times, twice from the pole with a Canadian driver, in the Toyota Atlantic race at the Toronto Molson Indy - and is going for a hat trick this weekend with Vancouver's Michael Valiante.

There's going to be a 'tussle in Toronto' this weekend at the Molson Indy. More than one, if the truth be known, but one of the most closely watched is sure to be the tight, see-saw battle between rising Canadian star Michael Valiante and American racer Jon Fogarty who head into this weekend's race separated by just one championship point - Fogarty has 74 and Valiante 73.

The Atlantic series awards 20 points for a win and there are six events left on the 12-race schedule, so the championship is still a free-for all among the most competitive field of drivers in years.

It should be noted that Lynx has a history of victory at this event, including three wins (Patrick Carpentier from the pole in 1996, Memo Gidley in 1997 and David Rutledge from the pole in 2001). Further, for you statistics junkies, Valiante has a finishing average so far this season of 4.83 (4th in Mexico, 1st in Long Beach, 7th in Milwaukee, 5th at Laguna Seca, 9th at Portland and 3rd at Chicago), while Fogarty's average is 6.33 (1st, 3rd, 5th, 22nd, 3rd, 4th in those same events).

In addition to David Rutledge's win here with Lynx last year, Michael Valiante finished 6th, after being launched while trying to make a daring outside pass, in just his third race with the team. Valiante's current teammate, Grant Ryley, finished 3rd here last year while driving for another team.

"It's both exciting and educational to be involved in such a tight championship battle in my first full year in the Atlantic series," says Valiante, 22, of Vancouver, B.C. "I'm learning a lot about how to handle the pressure, and how to work together with the team to produce the best results we can at each race.

"We struggled for a couple of races with a car that just wouldn't handle and didn't respond to changes the way it should have. But we finally found something in the car that seems to make quite a difference, and we already had a good Toronto set-up, so I think we'll be battling for the pole and the win this weekend. My goal is to get back into the points lead here at the first Canadian race of the season."

Ryley, too, is hoping his struggles with an uncooperative car are over and that he'll see a return this weekend to the podium-finish form he displayed here last year.

"It's been tough, because the thing that was keeping Michael's car from handling properly affected mine as well," says Ryley, 28, of San Jose, California. "I crashed in Portland trying to dodge another car that slowed suddenly, and had to race last year's backup car with this year's bodywork at Chicago. That wasn't a happy combination, but I'll be back in my primary car with the new set-up here and my mission is to put the first half of this season behind me and get back to running with the big dogs up front.

"I really like the Toronto track and I feel at home here because it's fast, technical and it demands an equal amount of brains and bravery."