Justin and the #9/CDW/RuSPORT team narrowly missed securing a spot on the front row of Sunday's Gran Premio Tecate presented by Banamex race in Mexico City.

His best time in Friday's first qualifying session was 1m 24.825s (117.729 mph), just 0.127seconds off Sebastien Bourdais' provisional pole time for Newman/Haas/ Lanigan. Will Power was third quickest for Team Australia.

Justin and the #9 CDW team overcame a series of issues in the morning practice session to emerge at the top of the timesheets despite a distinct lack of grip on a very dirty track, altitude-related engine problems and some ill team members.

"The track was so dirty this morning that trying to put down a good lap was nearly impossible until the last few minutes of the session," remarked Justin. "While we were in the pits sorting out our engine problems, the track kept getting better, so by the time we went out again we went straight to P1, which was a good feeling heading into qualifying."

Throughout provisional qualifying the #9/CDW car hovered in the top five, with Justin, Bourdais and Power trading the top three spots until Bourdais put down his best lap of 1m 24.698s. When the chequered flag dropped on the session, only Justin was out on track, giving him one last chance to better Bourdais' time. But a slight mistake in Turn 6 cost him the provisional pole and a guaranteed spot on the front row for Sunday's race.

"Today is almost a replay of last year [Mexico City 2006] where we nearly had the pole, but just missed it," said Justin. "I was doing everything I could and slid wide in a couple of corners and made a small mistake in Turn 6. I think it cost me the pole, but we'll try again tomorrow. When you start out front it's much easier to focus on the job of winning. Hopefully the rest of the weekend will play out the same way and we can go out with a win."