PORTLAND (June 17, 2006) - Bruno Junqueira (#2 Hole In The Wall Camps Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) has had more than his share of bad luck through the first four races of the 2006 Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford season, so the Brazilian decided to take luck out of the equation in today’s final qualifying for the G.I. Joe’s Presents The Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland.

Junqueira used his penultimate lap around the 1.964-mile road circuit to gain three spots and claim the Bridgestone Pole Position, winning a tight battle that saw the first three qualifiers covered by a microscopic .015 seconds. Junqueira’s time of 57.631 seconds (122.684 mph) gave him his first pole of the year and his first since the 2004 season opener, besting A.J. Allmendinger (#7 Indeck Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) by .008 seconds, with points leader Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald’s Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) another .007 behind in third.

The beginning of the session saw sun bathe the Portland track for the first time this weekend, and the action heated up to match the temperatures almost immediately. It took just three laps for last year’s polesitter Justin Wilson (#9 CDW Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) to top Friday’s best speed and the Brit took command early, lowering the top time on three of his next four laps, becoming the first driver of the weekend to hit the 57-second range in the process.

With two sets of the red-rimmed alternate Bridgestone Potenzas at his disposal, Bourdais strapped the first set on and vaulted to the top of the order on his fourth pass, dropping Wilson back to third behind Bourdais and first-round leader Allmendinger.

The majority of the teams then went to Pit Lane for final adjustments and to get a fresh set of Bridgestones, setting the stage for a furious final 10 minutes.

Defending race winner Cristiano da Matta (#10 RuSPORT Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) was the first to make a move, jumping into the third spot, only to see the former #10 driver drop him back as Allmendinger posted his best lap, taking the pole. The Californian then overshot the approach to the Festival Curves on his next lap, forcing him to go hard on the brakes and slide the tires, effectively ending any chance he had to post a better time. With his 57.639 in his pocket, Allmendinger retired to Pit Lane to sweat out the final few minutes knowing that Bourdais and Junqueira still had plenty of time to leapfrog him and take the pole.

Wilson dropped his best time to 57.818 on his next-to-last lap while Junqueira and Bourdais rolled off with their second set of alternate Bridgestone Potenzas bolted on to their Newman/Haas machines. Bourdais used two laps to get up to speed and eventually set a best time of 57.646 seconds (122.652 mph) to take the third spot, but while most eyes were on the man who has won each of the first four races of the year, Junqueira slowly started his climb up the order.

The Brazilian’s eighth lap moved him into fourth and as Allmendinger watched from the relative safety of his Forsythe pits, Junqueira’s next pass elevated him to the top spot with less than a minute left in the session.

“I was watching Bourdais’ times and then I happened to catch Bruno’s mid-lap time, I saw he was ahead of us at that point and I thought, ‘Oh no’,” Allmendinger said.

The late flurry dropped Wilson to fourth in the starting order for tomorrow’s 105-lap race, while da Matta’s time of 58.018 seconds (121.866 mph) slotted him in the fifth spot, marking his highest starting position of the 2006 campaign.

Dan Clarke (#14 CTE Racing - HVM Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) had the best qualifying performance of his young Champ Car career, with his top time of 58.214 seconds (121.455 mph) good enough for a sixth-place grid spot. Clarke was followed by Roshfrans Rookie-of-the-Year points leader Will Power (#5 Aussie Vineyards Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) in seventh while Milwaukee podium-sitter Nelson Philippe (#4 Wellbox Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) ended up in eighth.

Nicky Pastorelli (#8 Rocketsports Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) had his best-ever Champ Car qualifying result in today’s sunny session, qualifying 11th with a time of 58.826 seconds (120.192 mph). His Rocketsports teammate Tonis Kasemets (#18 Flexovit Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) will make his series debut in tomorrow’s race, starting from the 18th position.