Racer has name for game

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The inaugural Vegas Grand Prix certainly won’t be lacking for name recognition today when you consider the appropriate moniker of the pole winner:

Will Power.

One of the greatest names in racing goes down as pole winner of the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix.

The 26-year-old Australian was nearly a full second faster than other drivers in the Champ Car World Series over two days of qualifying to earn the coveted inside position on the first row.

In Saturday’s qualifying session, Power completed a best lap of the 2.44-mile course in 1 minute, 17.629 seconds.

“It was a mega-lap,” said Power, who drives the No. 5 Cosworth/DPO1 for Team Australia.

“We struggled with little problems with the car on Friday, (but) we got a good lap in traffic today.”

Power had the option of positions on the two-car front row and chose the inside spot to start the race, which is limited to 1 hour, 45 minutes. It’s estimated by race officials the winner will complete between 60 and 70 laps during that time.

Power’s decision gives the front row’s outside spot to Summerlin resident Paul Tracy, who had Friday’s best time.

Tracy, the 2003 Champ Car champion and eighth-quickest Saturday, is eager to win for the first time since the 2005 season. He said last year he signed a new contract with Forsythe Championship Racing and is devoted to winning this year’s championship.

“I spread myself too thin lasyear,” the Canada native said of competing in several NASCAR Busch Series races and sports car endurance events.

“I’m totally focused on this team. We’re right there.”

The biggest surprise of the day was a crash by three-time reigning series champion Sebastien Bourdais, who will start 16th in the 17-car field.

The driver for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing brushed the wall exiting the ninth turn — at Carson Avenue and Fourth Street — in Saturday’s qualifying and couldn’t get the car into reverse after it stopped at a tire barrier.

“I screwed up,” he said. “The car stepped out a little bit on (the) exit and I was already too close to the wall. (It) hit the rear a little bit.”

The native of France, who lives in Tampa, Fla., will start outside the top 10 for the first time in 54 races.

The Champ Car opener is the first in the series for Robert Doornbos, who qualified third for Minardi Team USA.

Doornbos competed in Formula One in 2005 and tested for an F1 team last year. He’s a Champ Car rookie who will start a race today for the first time from a traditional U.S. rolling start. In F1 and major European series races, cars start from a full stop.

Alex Tagliani, like Tracy a Summerlin resident, will start fourth in the No. 8 RSPORTS entry.

“I’m quite happy overall,” Tagliani said. “We are on the road to success.”

A unique feature to Champ Car races is the use of two different tire compounds; one is softer to produce higher speeds but is less durable than the other Bridgestone model.

The softer one is marked with wide “red walls” to allow spectators and television viewers to follow the teams’ tire management strategy.

Power said he set his fast time on the “reds” that worked maximized traction when the “track gripped up.”

Grip was of little help when Power, among others, became airborne after hitting the curbing that defines the chicane that forces a few quick turns before crossing Main Street heading into the Ogden Avenue tunnel.

Friday’s problem with that intersection, just past the chicane, was corrected Friday night when the section was torn out and repaved.

• ATLANTIC SERIES — Robert Wickens of Toronto will start from the pole after posting the quickest lap of the two-day qualifying format in Champ Car’s developmental Atlantic Series.

Wickens, who drives for Forsythe Championship Racing, is competing in his first Atlantic race. He won the Formula BMW USA championship last year.

James Hinchcliffe, also of Toronto, will start on the outside of the front row for Minden’s Sierra Sierra Racing team in the 27-car race that begins at 4 p.m. today.

VEGAS GRAND PRIX LINEUP

Lap length: 2.44 miles

(Car number in parentheses)

1. (5) Will Power, 1 minute, 17.629 seconds/113.154 mph.

2. (3) Paul Tracy-x,

1:19.625/110.317.

3. (14) Robert Doornbos,

118.515/111.877.

4. (8) Alex Tagliani,

118.850/111.401.

5. (15) Simon Pagenaud,

1:18.961/111.245.