FA: Rahal breaks track record in Denver.

On a weekend where he needs to make a strong statement in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship, Graham Rahal came out firing with both barrels on Friday in Denver.

Rahal, who enters this weekend ranked second in the Atlantic Championship standings with just three races remaining, set a new series track record while leading the opening round of qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix of Denver Atlantic race.

The 17-year-old son of racing legend Bobby Rahal demonstrated his speed early on the 1.657-mile street circuit around the Pepsi Centre, posting the second-fastest time in Friday morning's practice. The Mi-Jack Conquest Racing rookie, who competed at Denver in the Formula BMW USA series in 2004, raised his game in the 30-minute afternoon qualifying, run under overcast skies and 90-degree temperatures in the Mile-High city.

Rahal turned his record-breaking time on his first lap with new tyres, posting an impressive lap of 1:07.492 (88.384 mph). The mark surpassed the previous Atlantic record time of 1:07.576 (88.274 mph) held by Jon Fogarty in his championship-winning season of 2004.

"When I ran here with Formula BMW, this was my best weekend and I like the track," said Rahal. "I like the layout. I have to say, the car was great out of the box and we basically changed nothing (from San Jose). I think most of the speed you can find here depends on your line. People will disagree with me, but everyone's going to be sliding around out here. You can gain some time in certain areas."

While several drivers dropped their times in the session, no one could get within shouting distance of Rahal's mark as he earned his fourth provisional pole of the season by more than four-tenths-of-a-second over his closest pursuer. Rahal locked up a front-row starting spot with Friday's effort and, perhaps most importantly, he scored a championship point and now trails series leader Simon Pagenaud by 25 points (200-175) entering the final round of qualifying on Saturday.

Another one of Rahal's rivals, Raphael Matos, provided the toughest challenge in qualifying. After winning the last two Atlantic poles and earning his first series victory last round in San Jose, Matos clocked the second-fastest time of the day at 1:07.907 (87.844 mph). The Sierra Sierra Enterprises rookie will try to top Rahal's mark in final qualifying as he chases his fourth pole of the season on Saturday.

"We always had a good car," stated Matos. "You are always searching for the best balance and looking for grip, especially here. It's a very low-grip track. From the first session, we made some pretty big adjustments and the changes seem to be working. We're quite happy with the car, but I was expecting more from my sticker tyre run. I was expecting more speed and a better balance for the car. But, we have two sessions tomorrow and we have time to make the car better."

Mexico's David Martinez returned to his US RaceTronics team this weekend and the combination clicked. The second-year racer who finished fifth at Denver last season, finished third in opening-round qualifying with a top lap of 1:07.982 (87.747 mph). Martinez, the only driver to complete every lap of competition this season, started the year with US RaceTronics but switched to Bite Racing for rounds 8 and 9 before returning to his original squad this weekend.

"First of all, I'm happy to be back with my old team and very grateful to Bite Racing because if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't still be up there in the championship," said Martinez. "It feels good to be back in the front after a while. Hopefully, it will stay like this all weekend."

PR1 Motorsports racer Jonathan Bomarito enters this weekend ranked fourth in the championship and he finished in the same order in qualifying Friday with a top lap of 1:08.042 (87.669 mph). Richard Philippe of Forsythe Racing completed the top five rundown with a mark of 1:08.076 (87.626 mph). The 16-year-old rookie is one of 10 drivers in this weekend's 25-car field that has experience racing at Denver. Philippe earned a pair of top-10 finishes last season at the circuit on his way to claiming the Formula BMW USA title.

Pagenaud, who's struggled a bit on street circuits in his remarkable rookie season for Team Australia, was sixth in qualifying after he posted a fast lap of 1:08.129 (87.557 mph).

Last season's Denver Atlantic champion, Andreas Wirth, owned the seventh-fastest time on Friday at 1:08.132 (87.554 mph). Wirth captured his first series victory on the Denver streets in 2005 and his championship hopes need another strong performance this weekend as he sits third in the series standings, 28 points behind Pagenaud.

After leading the morning practice session at Denver, Polestar Racing Group driver Alan Sciuto wound up eighth in Friday's final finishing order. Sciuto checked in with a time of 1:08.250 (87.402 mph). One year ago, Sciuto became the youngest-ever winner in the long and storied history of the Atlantic Championship at age 17. The California native will get another chance to make it two Mile-High poles in a row in final-round qualifying.

This season's Toronto race winner, Robbie Pecorari, was ninth on Friday with a fast time of 1:08.389 (87.225 mph), while Danilo Dirani of Condor Motorsports was 10th with a top mark of 1:08.494 (87.091 mph).

Local racer Steve Ott, who was born and raised in nearby Thornton, Colorado, was 17th in first-round qualifying with a time of 1:09.197 (86.206 mph).

The top nine cars in Friday's first-round qualifying were all within one second of each other on the timing sheets.

British duo Tim Bridgman and Ryan Lewis both struggled to come to terms with the Denver circuit with Bridgman setting 19th fastest time and Lewis the 21st fastest speed.