Check out a short list of favorites for Sunday's Honda Indy 300 at Surfers Paradise in Queensland, Australia.

Michael Andretti

	Andretti

Owns four top-five finishes in his past eight starts at Surfers Paradise, topped by victory in 1994 and runner-up last year; also was third in 1997 and fifth in 1999; "I love coming to Surfers and I've done pretty well here in the past. The city and all the fans really get excited about the Honda Indy 300 and it just makes it a great week." Recorded 28 of his 42 career victories on road/street courses; eighth in the championship with 90 points.

Kenny Brack
This is a year the Swedish driver would like to put behind him; failed to finish in seven races and is without a victory, which leaves him with 81 points in 12th place; top results of the year were a second at Toronto and third at Monterey; finished fifth in Australia last year after an even better debut in 2000 of second.

Patrick Carpentier
One of several drivers with a chance to finish runner-up in the championship and collect the $500,000 that comes with it; fourth in the standings with 115 points; has yet to record a street course win this year, finishing a season-best fifth in Vancouver; was 11th in this race last season.

Cristiano da Matta
Clinched the 2002 CART championship with his victory in Miami; the Brazilian driver is one of just five drivers to have won seven races in a season and looks break the CART record of eight victories in a season if he can win two of the last three races (Michael Andretti first accomplished the feat in 1991 and Al Unser Jr. matched it in 1994); became the 11th driver in Champ Car history to make 10 podium appearances in a season with the win in Miami.

Christian Fittipaldi

	Fittipaldi

Although he has posted a total of five podium finishes this season, the potential was there for as many as 10 which were reduced by a variety of reasons; the thrill of finishing second in Miami behind teammate Cristiano da Matta gives him the possibility of another good result in Australia; will be his eighth appearance in Australia although he is only credited with starting six due to an accident on lap 2 in 1997 which sidelined him for seven races; highest start and finish of third place came in his return to the event in 1998; was eighth last season; 114 points accumulated places him fifth in the standings.

Adrian Fernandez
Winner of the Honda Indy 300 in 2000, but not a factor last season in 19th place; also placed on the podium in 1999 with a third-place finish; best street course result of the year was fourth in Denver after starting second; and has top-10 results in five street circuit events held to date this season; the Mexican driver is looking to end the year on a high note in an otherwise modest season; earned just 59 points, good for 14th place.

Dario Franchitti
Finished on the podium in two of his four career starts at Australia, highlighted by victory in 1999; finished second the previous year; started from back-to-back poles in 1998-99 and owns the track qualifying record of 109.724 miles per hour set in his winning year; the 11 races he has finished were all in the points earnings; winner in Vancouver, Montreal and England, finished second in Monterrey, Mexico, and was third in Japan, Portland and Chicago; with 129 points earned, he is third in the standings.

Michel Jourdain Jr.
Improved from 15th on the grid to finish sixth in Miami, extending his streak of points-paying finishes to 16 races (all this season) and carries an 18-race consecutive finishing streak into Australia; needs to score points in the remaining three events to become the first driver since Al Unser Jr. in 1992 to score points in every race of the season; joining Team Rahal turned to be the right decision as the Mexican driver is having the best season of his seven-year CART career; the 26-year-old has established career highs in points (102), top-five results (5) and top-10 results (13); as the only driver to have finished every race this season, he leads the series in laps completed and miles logged. "Surfers Paradise is in my opinion the best street course that we run in in CART," said Jourdain, who finished seventh at the track last year. "I have done well at Australia in the past and I hope we can continue with the success that we have had this season."

Bruno Junqueira

	Junqueira

The second-year driver is having a breakthrough season; wins in Japan and in dominating fashion last month in Denver where he led all 100 laps has put him in second place of the standings with 143 points; a better driver on street/road course circuits where he has earned 93 points; contact with nine laps to run at Surfers Paradise in his rookie year ended with a 21st place result.

Jimmy Vasser
After posting five DNFs in the first 10 races, he has recorded six straight top-10 results highlighted by his second podium finish of the year -- third place in Miami; this string of consistency had many consider Vasser a championship contender at the start of the season; in making his 163rd consecutive start in the series, he is within one of Emerson Fittipaldi for second on the all-time list (Al Unser Jr. holds the series record with 192 consecutive starts).