MONTERREY, Mexico (March 10, 2001) - Kenny Brack of Team Rahal, whose solidrookie FedEx Championship Series season last year brought him the JimTrueman Rookie of the Year Award but neither a race victory nor a poleposition, collected his first of the latter Saturday when he earned the polefor the inaugural Tecate Telmex Monterrey Grand Prix Presented by Herdez atFundidora Park.

Brack (Shell Ford Lola), in his 21st career FedEx Championship Series event,recorded a lap of 100.665 miles per hour (1 minute, 15.244 seconds) on the2.1-mile permanent road course to claim the right to lead 27 fellow ChampCar drivers to the green flag for Sunday's season opener (4 p.m. ET, live,ABC-TV). The race, the first of 21 in the 2001 FedEx Championship Series, isscheduled for 80 laps (168.32 miles).

Brack was the season's outstanding rookie in 2000, recording a fourth-placefinish in the championship behind 10 top-six finishes. His best qualifyingeffort of that season, and previous best until Saturday, was second atJapan.

Starting alongside Brack on the front row will be Cristiano da Matta(Texaco/Havoline/Kmart Toyota Lola) of Newman/Haas Racing, who matched acareer-best FedEx Championship Series start by winning the outside pole. DaMatta started second at Toronto while driving for PPI Motorsports lastseason..

Defending FedEx Championship Series champion Gil de Ferran (Marlboro HondaReynard) of Marlboro Team Penske qualified third at 100.255 mph (1:15.551).The effort brought de Ferran his 17th top-five qualifying performance in hispast 21 starts, dating to the start of last season.

Rounding out the top five drivers were Helio Castroneves (Marlboro HondaReynard) of Marlboro Team Penske, fourth at 100.217 mph (1:15.580), andMichael Andretti (Motorola Honda Reynard) of Team Motorola, fifth at 99.527mph (1:16.104).

Andretti, CART's all-time victory leader (40), will be making his firststart with Team Motorola after spending 10 of his past 11 FedEx ChampionshipSeries seasons with Newman/Haas Racing.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

KENNY BRACK, Shell Ford Reynard: "I want to thank my team, I want to thankFord and Shell. Ford made a great effort over the winter to give us a goodengine. We made a lot of changes over the winter, we changed chassis and Ireally didn't think we'd be as competitive as we have been. But as soon aswe rolled the car off the truck it's been pretty good...I think the car willbe pretty good overall on both road courses and ovals, I just figured wewould have more to learn on the road courses. It's a good start to theseason."

CRISTIANO da MATTA, Texaco/Havoline/Kmart Toyota Lola: "It makes it a loteasier when you unload the car off the truck and it's already doing well.Since Friday afternoon we haven't had to change the car a lot. Our raceweekend has been pretty smooth so far. No mechanical problems. I'm veryhappy to be starting second for the first time with the team and I'm lookingforward to tomorrow."

ADRIAN FERNANDEZ, Tecate/Quaker State/Telmex Honda Reynard: "It's a greatjob by Kenny and Cristiano and Gil. It's been a tough weekend for us. It'sour first race as a team and we have a lot of things to learn to get betterand that's to be expected. It's my first time as an owner and my first timeracing in Monterrey, Mexico for CART and our schedule has been very hectic.It's been difficult to focus as a driver and as a team. I haven't been ableto find grip on the track and put the power down. I've started [in the back]before and always have hope. I always believe I have a chance to win until Isee the checkered flag."

WHAT'S NOTEWORTHY

• Kenny Brack's (Shell Ford Lola) first career pole position was the11th in the history of Team Rahal, and its first since Bryan Herta earnedthe pole at Laguna Seca in 1999. Brack's previous best start on a permanentroad course was fourth at Mid-Ohio last year. He has qualified among the top10 drivers for all five of his career starts on permanent road circuits,including fifth at Portland, sixth at Laguna Seca and ninth at Road Americalast year. Brack's pole was his first overall since 1996 at Silverstone,England, when he was competing in the Formula 3000 championship.
• Cristiano da Matta (Texaco/Havoline/Kmart Toyota Lola) will start onthe outside of the front row for the second time in his career, matching hiscareer-best qualifying effort recorded at Toronto last year. Da Matta'seffort also marks the first front-row start for a Toyota-powered driver inthe manufacturer's six-year history in the FedEx Championship Series.
• Gil de Ferran (Marlboro Honda Reynard) will make his fifthconsecutive top-three start on a permanent road course, including a pole atMid-Ohio and outside poles at Portland, Road America and Laguna Seca lastyear.
• Brack's pole was the third overall for Ford and its first on apermanent road course since Bryan Herta at Laguna Seca in 1999.
• Second-year driver Oriol Servia (Sigma Autosport Ford Lola), signedby the newly formed Sigma Autosport team late last month and with next to nooff-season testing, qualified a strong eighth at 99.084 mph (1:16.144). Theeffort fell just one place shy of Servia's career-best qualifying effort ofPortland established last year.

WHAT'S ON TAP

Qualifying for the Tecate Telmex Monterrey Geand Prix Presented by Herdezwill air 3 a.m. ET Sunday on ESPN2. CART 2Day airs 11:30 a.m. ET Sunday onESPN2, with ABC-TV's live race broadcast beginning 4 p.m. ET. Sunday's racewill also air on the CART Radio Network and on CART's official website, atwww.cart.com .