Cleveland — Mauricio Gugelmin, whose 2001 season has included the death of a son and a frightening crash, received a lucky break Saturday and won his first pole in four years at the rainy Marconi Grand Prix of Cleveland.
Gugelmin qualified in the first group before a severe thunderstorm blew in off Lake Erie and delayed qualifying for the top drivers on the already slippery 2.106-mile Burke Lakefront Airport road course.
Gugelmin's lap time of 57.356 seconds and speed of 132.185 mph stood up through the rain delays and gave the 38-year-old Brazilian his first pole since 1997 at Fontana, Calif.
"I knew the time was pretty decent," Gugelmin said. "I thought even with the rain I would stay up front. I think we had a great race car, but sometimes a little bit of luck doesn't hurt."
In May, Gugelmin's 6-year-old son, Giuliano, died from cerebral palsy. A week earlier, he had escaped serious injury in a wreck during practice for the Firestone Firehawk 600 in Texas an event eventually canceled because of driver's safety concerns.
Gugelmin has not finished higher than 10th this year and is winless in the series since 1997 at Vancouver.
Gugelmin said he knew his qualifying time might be tough to beat when he climbed out of his car and felt the rain.
"I thought, 'Well, they're (drivers) going to have to sweat a little bit'," he said. "There is a saying that sometimes you make your luck."
Adrian Fernandez, whose best finish this season was fifth at Milwaukee, will start in the No. 2 spot for Honda after going 131.815 mph with the first group.
Rookie Max Wilson also ran in the first session and was third at 130.961 mph. He'll enjoy his best starting position this season. At Portland last week, he finished fourth after qualifying 19th.
The second qualifying session of 13 drivers was red-flagged for 18 minutes by lightning and heavy rains. Once driving resumed, none of the drivers in the second group were able to do better than Dario Franchitti's lap of 59.803 more than one second slower than the first group's slowest time. Franchitti will start 14th.
Points leader Kenny Brack will start 17th after beginning last week's race at No. 22.
"There is nothing we could do about the rain," Brack said.
CART-Marconi GP Qualifying
Saturday; Race Sunday
At Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland
Lap Length: 2.106-mile road course
1. (17) Mauricio Gugelmin, Toyota Reynard, 57.356, 132.185.
2. (51) Adrian Fernandez, Honda Reynard, 57.517, 131.815.
3. (25) Max Wilson, Ford Lola, 57.892, 130.961.
4. (77) Bryan Herta, Ford Reynard, 57.904, 130.934.
5. (12) Memo Gidley, Toyota Lola, 57.916, 130.907.
6. (55) Tony Kanaan, Honda Reynard, 57.936, 130.862.
7. (33) Alex Tagliani, Ford Reynard, 57.942, 130.848.
8. (5) Tora Takagi, Toyota Reynard, 58.227, 130.208.
9. (32) Patrick Carpentier, Ford Reynard, 58.230, 130.201.
10. (52) Shinji Nakano, Honda Reynard, 58.237, 130.208.
11. (16) Michel Jourdain Jr., Ford Lola, 58.424, 129.769.
12. (22) Oriol Servia, Ford Lola, 58.430, 129.755.
13. (66) Alex Zanardi, Honda Reynard, 58.570, 129.445.
14. (27) Dario Franchitti, Honda Reynard, 59.803, 126.776.
15. (11) Christian Fittipaldi, Toyota Lola, 60.516, 125.283.
16. (4) Bruno Junqueira, Toyota Lola, 61.826, 122.628.
17. (8) Kenny Brack, Ford Lola, 61.992, 122.300.
18. (18) Scott Dixon, Toyota Reynard, 62.049, 122.187.
19. (6) Cristiano da Matta, Toyota Lola, 62.093, 122.101.
20. (1) Gil de Ferran, Honda Reynard, 62.625, 121.063.
21. (39) Michael Andretti, Honda Reynard, 62.802, 120.722.
22. (7) Max Papis, Ford Lola, 63.323, 119.142.
23. (3) Helio Castroneves, Honda Reynard, 64.155, 118.176.
24. (40) Jimmy Vasser, Toyota Reynard, 66.323, 114.313.
25. (20) Roberto Moreno, Toyota Reynard, 66.963, 113.221.
26. (26) Paul Tracy, Honda Reynard, 69.456, 109.157.
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