LONG BEACH, Calif. -- Cristiano da Matta got off to a strong start Friday in quest of a record-tying fourth straight victory, taking the provisional pole for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

"I'm not looking to tie the win streak record," said da Matta, who finished the 2001 season with a pair of victories, then started 2001 with a win in Monterrey, Mexico. "I'll be happy if it happens, but it's not our major goal this weekend. We're just looking for points and a good race."

	Cristiano da Matta drives his Toyota Lola to the provisional pole for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Da Matta could equal the record set in 1990 by Al Unser Jr. and matched in 1998 by Alex Zanardi.

Just like last month in Mexico, the fastest laps in qualifying came in the final moments of the one-hour session.

Da Matta's fast lap of 102.542 mph on the 1.968-mile, nine-turn temporary street circuit in downtown Long Beach was good enough to relegate Newman-Haas Racing teammate and fellow Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi to the outside of the provisional front row at 102.352.

Da Matta would love for it to stay just that way Saturday in the second and final round of time trials for Sunday's race.

"I've never been on the pole before," he said. "That's important to me.

"The car is definitely better than the car I drove in Mexico. I was real happy that we were able to stay in front. In Mexico, I felt our team had a comfortable advantage. It's good to see that we're still in front."

Fittipaldi started fourth and finished third in the opener.

Jimmy Vasser, who crashed on the opening lap in Monterrey, was a lot happier Friday after qualifying third at 102.126, just ahead of Team Rahal teammate Michel Jourdain and Chip Ganassi Racing's Bruno Junqueira.

Under CART's new qualifying rules for 2002, each day's fastest driver earns one point and all the competitors go out together in a single 60-minute session.

The new rules also limit each driver to 15 laps in each qualifying session. That has prompted most teams to wait to take to the track, hoping that others will go out and lay down more rubber -- making the surface faster.

Nobody drove a lap for the first 20 minutes in Friday's qualifying.

"It's a little bit crazy with this new system," said Vasser, a former CART champion and the 1996 Long Beach winner. "We had people yelling to me from across the track: 'Get in the car. Get out there and race.'

"With these rules, for the first 20 minutes maybe we need jugglers and fire eaters to keep the fans happy."

It wasn't a happy session for all the drivers, either.

Max Papis crashed into a tire barrier in the early going, bringing out a red flag and damaging his car. He wound up 19th out of the 20 drivers who took part in the session.

Dario Franchitti, who finished second in Mexico and trails da Matta by six points, was a very disappointing 14th at 101.057. Fan favorite Michael Andretti, the 1986 Long Beach winner, was 16th at 100.431.