Edmonton, Canada (My Sportsbook) - Series points leader Sebastien Bourdais grabbed the provisional pole for Sunday's West Edmonton Mall Grand Prix of Edmonton Champ Car event. The No.1 Newman-Haas Racing driver circled the 1.973-mile temporary street course in 59.895 seconds (118.588 m.p.h.).

The provisional pole guarantees Bourdais one championship point and a front row start for the race.

With the additional point the two-time defending series champion owns a 24- point lead over American A.J. Allmendinger (192-168).

Bourdais opened up the 2006 Champ Car season with four consecutive dominant wins. He led 267 of a total of 443 laps and held a 31-point lead over Justin Wilson.

However, over the past three races a new star has been born. Following his release from RuSport, Allmendinger signed with Forsythe Championship Racing for the remainder of the season.

Driving the car for the first time at Portland, Allmendinger took a 5.420- second victory. Proving it wasn't a fluke, A.J. followed it up with wins at Cleveland and Toronto.

Allmendinger now sits second in the championship, passing Wilson after the Toronto win. He has been the dominant driver on the track leading 174 of the last 286 laps en route to the three consecutive wins.

Unfortunately, Allmendinger crashed in turn 1 at the 11 minute mark of the session and didn't return to the track.

Paul Tracy (1:00.067), Bruno Junqueira (1:00.085), Justin Wilson (1:00.251) and Cristiano da Matta (1:00.412) completed the top-five.

The second qualifying session is set for Saturday at 4 p.m. (et) with the race set to begin on Sunday at 2 p.m.