MOTOR RACING / INDY CARS AT LAGUNA SECA : Andretti Extends Points Lead Over Rahal

A warming trend that swept over the Monterey peninsula Friday prevented Indy car drivers from bettering Michael Andretti’s Laguna Seca track-record speed of 110.555 m.p.h., set Thursday.

And the point Andretti earned for winning the pole might be a vital one in determining the national champion in Sunday’s Champion 300, main event of the Toyota Monterey Grand Prix weekend.

By picking up the point, and denying it to Bobby Rahal, Andretti further distanced himself from his only challenger for the PPG Cup championship and its $500,000 prize. Andretti has a 13-point lead, and even if he drops out of Sunday’s race early, Rahal must finish second or better to win his third championship.

It was the eighth time in 17 races this year that Andretti has been the fastest qualifier.

The fastest lap by Andretti during Friday’s 30-minute qualifying session over the 11-turn, 2.2-mile course was 109.334 m.p.h.

Rahal improved slightly on his Thursday effort, but his 109.798 m.p.h. left him fourth on Sunday’s starting grid. Rick Mears, the Indianapolis 500 winner, will start alongside Andretti in the front row with a 110.239 lap, and Emerson Fittipaldi will share the second row with Rahal at 110.034.

Ten drivers, among them Andretti, Mears, Fittipaldi and Rahal, will participate in a lucrative prelude today--the $920,000 Marlboro Challenge. It is a 100-mile race with one mandatory pit stop, the winner receiving $275,000.

The field is made up of eight drivers who won a race or a pole in the last year, plus the next two in the PPG series standings. Others in the race are Al Unser Jr., Arie Luyendyk, Danny Sullivan, John Andretti, Mario Andretti and Eddie Cheever.

Michael Andretti, by virtue of his seven victories and eight poles, will start on the pole, alongside Mears, in a preview of Sunday’s race.

“The money is nice, but the Marlboro Challenge is definitely not our top priority this weekend,” said Andretti, who won the race in 1988 when it was run at Miami’s Tamiami Park.