SAN JOSE, Calif. - As Paul Tracy drove across the light rail tracks on Market Street at 160 mph Friday, the only sound was the roar of his 750-horsepower Cosworth engine.

That's a big difference from a year ago when the Champ Cars were launched into the air with a loud "clack, clack, thump" as they crossed the tracks at each end of the city street circuit in the inaugural San Jose Grand Prix.

"It's like night and day," said Tracy, whose fast lap of 50.156 seconds (103.573 mph) barely nipped defending race champion Sebastien Bourdais' 50.160 (103.565) for the provisional pole. "You don't even feel the railroad tracks any more.

"Jumping these cars at 160 miles an hour is pretty cool to watch for the fans, but not much fun for the drivers who are wondering if the next time the transmission is going to fall out when they hit the ground. Those tracks were the reason for a lot of the attrition in the race last year."

Smoothing out the railroad crossings was one of a number of improvements to the 1.448-mile, seven-turn downtown circuit, probably the biggest reason that the first of two rounds of time trials was far more competitive than a year ago.

The top spot changed hands three times in the final minutes, with Tracy jumping to the top, Bourdais going quicker and Tracy retaking the provisional pole and earning the point that goes with it on his 13th of 14 laps in the 30-minute session.

"This race track is fairer now, but it's still a very difficult racetrack," said Bourdais, the two-time defending series champion and current points leader. "It's hard to figure out the braking and you also have to find a way to carry the speed through the corners.

"I made a couple of mistakes out there that cost me. Everybody made mistakes."

A.J. Allmendinger, from nearby Los Gatos, Calif., and the only American in the 18-car field, acknowledged that mistakes at the 90-degree turn seven, a left-hander, cost him the top spot on Friday.

"Last year, that was where pit in was and now there's just a runoff area there," said Allmendinger, whose three-race winning string ended with a third-place finish last week in Edmonton.

"They told us we could go in that runoff if we had to and flip the car around. But I went in there and found myself up against a chain-link fence. I brought out a red flag and the rule is they take away your fastest lap."

Knowing that, he still went out and ran the fastest lap of the session ¡ª 50.124 ¡ª which was immediately erased by Champ Car's scoring system. But Tracy's 24-year-old Forsythe Championship Racing teammate backed it up with a lap of 50.246, good enough for third on the tentative grid.

"I tried to get some good laps late in the session, but I made another mistake in (turn) seven," Allmendinger said. "I guess I was just a little too amped up in front of the home crowd. I was overdriving the car.

"Hopefully, we can get that settled down for tomorrow," he said, referring to the final qualifying session Saturday.

Asked if he believes it is fair to take away a driver's fast lap for causing a stoppage in the action, Allmendinger shrugged and said, "Yeah, they've got to do something to penalize you in that situation, and it happens to everybody at some time."

Tracy, who lost the pole last week in Edmonton for the same violation, nodded.

"They started that rule a few years ago because guys would go out near the end of a session, pull off a fast lap and then purposely run out of fuel and stop in the middle of the track, bringing out a red flag," the former series champion said. "That certainly wasn't fair. They had to do something and it's the same for everybody."

Rookie Dan Clarke was fourth fastest Friday, followed by Alex Tagliani, Oriol Servia, Nelson Philippe and Edmonton winner Justin Wilson.