Surfers Paradise, Australia (My Sportsbook) - Australian Will Power captured the pole for Sunday's Lexmark Indy 300 on the 2.795-mile Surfers Paradise street course with a record qualifying time of one minute, 30.054 seconds (111.733 m.p.h.). The old mark was set back in 2002 by Cristiano da Matta.

"I just kept going for it, I wanted to get pole," said Power. "We knew we had the car all week and this was the session to be quickest in."

The pole win gives Power one championship point. Starting alongside Power will be Oriol Servia, who won Friday's first qualifying session.

Paul Tracy (1:30.426) and series points leader Sebastien Bourdais (1:30.438) will make up row two.

After not being on track since the first week in September, the Champ Car Series returned to the track at one of the drivers' favorite venues - the Australian Gold Coast.

"I only touched down in Brisbane this morning and I am already loving this place," said rookie Simon Pagenaud. "It's great, warm weather and the beaches are out of this world. I've been looking forward to coming down to this event all season."

When we last left the series, Justin Wilson was winning the inaugural Bavarian Champ Car Grand Prix at the TT Circuit Assen in the Netherlands. The No.9 RuSport driver crossed the finish line 7.226 seconds ahead of Jan Heylen for his first win of 2007.

The win pushed Wilson past Robert Doornbos and into second place in the championship behind three-time series champion Bourdais. However, Bourdais holds a commanding 58-point lead in his attempt for a fourth consecutive title as he leaves the series for Formula One in 2008.

Bourdais, who finished seventh at Assen, couldn't clinch the title, but crept a bit closer with his 10th top-10 of the season. But it seems inevitable that Bourdais and the Newman/Haas/Lanigan team will add the fourth notch this weekend. All the Frenchman has to do to clinch the title is finish 12th or better.

The race is scheduled to drop the green flag on Sunday at 12 a.m. (et).