UPDATE (2): Bourdais Relaced By Will Power On Pole After Infraction Assesment in Houston!

Original Qualifying Times (top 5)
 
Pos  Driver  #  Team  Lap Time  Mph  km/h  Leader  Previous
1  S. Bourdais  1  Newman/ Haas/ Lanigan Racing  57.242  105.845  170.341
2  W. Power  5  Team <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Australia  57.405  105.545  169.858  0.163
3  J. Wilson  9  RSPORTS  57.533  105.310  169.480  0.291  0.128
4  N. Jani  21  PKV Racing  57.753  104.909  168.834  0.511  0.220
5  O. Servia  3  Forsythe Championship Racing  57.790  104.842  168.726  0.548  0.037
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UPDATED Information:
 
Houston, the fourth largest city in the United States, is notorious for traffic snarls and on Saturday afternoon at JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park it looked more like an evening rush hour than a race track. When all the dust had settled Sebastien Bourdais (#1 McDonald's Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) had set the fastest lap in qualifying but was penalized for qualifying interference awarding the pole position to Team Australia's Will Power (#5 Aussie Vineyards Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) after the Australian turned in a best lap of 57.405 (105.545 mph).

Sebastien Bourdais will start from the second position after securing a front row starting spot by posting the fastest qualifying time during Friday's session. Last year, Bourdais started fifth at Reliant Park and went on to win.

The congestion began after Katherine Legge (#11 Dale Coyne Racing Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) brought out a red flag early in the session when she spun at the exit of Turn 4 and blocked the track. As the green flag flew minutes later nearly every driver in the field entered the track ready to post a fast lap. The tight confines of the street circuit combined with the traffic on course led to many drivers feeling they had better cars than their qualifying times showed.

Even with all of the traffic out on the course the drivers continued to improve their times throughout the session until a late red flag brought out by Bruno Junqueira (#19 Sonny's Bar-B-Q Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) ended the session with the red and checkered flags.

Justin Wilson (#9 CDW Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) will start on the inside of the second row after posting a time of 57.533 (105.310 mph). Starting alongside the Brit will be rookie Neel Jani (#21 RedBull Gulfstream Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone) who had his best Champ Car qualifying session, posting the fourth fastest time at 57.753 (104.909 mph).