LEXINGTON, Ohio (Ticker) -- Patrick Carpentier of Canada has good reason to celebrate his 100th CART race as he held on to claim the pole for Sunday's Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio.

Carpentier, who was fastest in both qualifying sessions, averaged 122.925 miles per hour Saturday, covering the 2.258-mile road course in 1 minute, 6.128 seconds in a Ford-Cosworth/Reynard.

His last pole came at Milwaukee in 1998.

The 30-year-old claimed his third career CART pole and earned two bonus points that came with topping the charts in both qualifying sessions and moved into a tie for third in the points standings with Bruno Junqueira and Michel Jourdain Jr. at 74 points each.

Carpentier's previous best qualifying effort this year also came in Ohio, starting second and winning the race at Cleveland. The Quebec native is a much better driver on road and street course circuits, where he has scored 62 points this season. He started and finished third at this event last year.

Brazilian Christian Fittipaldi moved up a spot to second with a speed of 122.675 mph in a Toyota/Lola, even though he ran out of fuel on his final qualifying lap. It also was the best starting position this season for Fittipaldi, who has dropped from fifth to ninth in the standings after not finishing the past two races.

Fellow Brazilian and series points leader Cristiano da Matta slipped from second to third. Da Matta was fastest in practice runs but could not keep it going in qualifying where his speed was 122.433 mph in a Toyota/Lola.

Despite failing to finish the past two races, da Matta holds a 38-point lead over Dario Franchitti of Scotland, who qualified 11th. Da Matta won five races this year and has led a series-high 467 laps. But he has never finished better than ninth in three starts at Mid-Ohio.

Kenny Brack of Sweden was fourth in a Toyota/Lola. Brack has had a mixed season, with five finishes in the top eight and five DNFs.

Brazilians Tony Kanaan and Junqueira make up the third row. Kanaan remained in the same position he qualified Friday, while Junqueira improved four spots.

Kanaan is coming off his first podium finish of the year, a third place at Vancouver.

The race will be televised live Sunday at 12:30 p.m. EDT on CBS.