Montoya on pole at Nazareth.

Juan Montoya beat both his rivals and the weather to record his first pole position of the season at Nazareth today, racking up Toyota's second top spot in three races.

The Colombian needed just one of allocated flying laps to set fastest time and, with the rest of the field safely back in pit-lane, coasted in to join them after a job well done. The Lola-Toyota combination worked better for Montoya than it had for Ganassi team-mate Jimmy Vasser, and the reigning champion became only the second driver in history to repeat as Nazareth pole-sitter, after Paul Tracy in 1996-97.

''I could've gone quicker,'' Montoya pointed out, as if to rub in the superiority which had seen top the previous two sessions as well as qualifying, ''but I lifted and backed-off after the first lap. I only needed that lap.''

''I think there was more potential in the car,'' he added, ''and we could have put more wing in, but we were concerned about the wind and didn't want to put the handling over the edge. So we were a little conservative on our set-up and I think I drove a little too conservatively as well. There was a little more room to hang it out, but it turned out we didn't need it. I was surprised the wind didn't affect the car more.''

The weather in Pennsylvania mirrored early conditions at the season-opener at Homestead, with strong winds growing as the day progressed. Fortunately, the forecast rain did not arrive, allowing all drivers a shot at qualifying. The conditions proved to be a mite unpredictable, however, with more than one competitor being caught out as the wind changed direction, leading to the occasional surprise in the final line-up.

Appearing alongside Montoya for tomorrow's race will be Newman-Haas pilot Christian Fittipaldi. The Brazilian had been on the pace since Friday morning, and kept up the pressure when it mattered most. His time was sufficient to beat his previous best oval track qualifying result, and gave Lola its first front-row lock-out since 1995

''I believe I could have gone quicker if I had gone a little more neutral on my set-up,'' Fittipaldi said. ''Maybe I wasn't brave enough, but I think we could have put more front wing in. But I'm very happy to start in the top four. The top four or six is a big advantage here because it's going to be very tough to pass.''

Row two features Helio Castro-Neves - emphasising the potential of Roger Penske's new Reynard-Honda combo - and Paul Tracy, who went the wrong way on set-up and had to battle his car to the line.

''The car was working well, but I wish I had one more lap,'' the Brazilian said, ''When you finish the run, you always think of a way you could have gone quicker. The set-up is really good, and I'm confident about long runs because it felt good yesterday.''

''I'm happy with our starting position because we had our car on a real fine edge balance-wise,'' Tracy countered, ''It was too nervous because of the way the wind came up this afternoon. We are much better off than we were at the last race and, if we make a good start and hold our ground, I know we can make up some positions in the pits.''

The second Penske of Gil de Ferran shares row three with rookie Kenny Brack, while row four sees Roberto Moreno and Tony Kanaan forming a Brazilian alliance. All four admitted that the conditions had made it tricky when choosing a set-up, but Kanaan, at least, was impressed with what he had achieved.

''The conditions did a 180 this afternoon,'' Brack explained, ''and it was difficult with that wind, because the car wanted to skate around.''

The final positions inside the top ten were filled by Adrian Fernandez and Patrick Carpentier, both of whom were recovering from 'moments' in practice, while some more illustrious names found themselves further down the order.

Jimmy Vasser, Michael Andretti, Max Papis and Dario Franchitti will all believe that they could have been higher placed had it not been for circumstances beyond their control.

A flu-ridden Vasser had his Toyota blow at the end of his first flying lap, and will start eleventh, while Andretti continued to struggle, qualifying half a second off the ultimate pace. Homestead winner Papis qualified alongside the local boy after fighting oversteer throughout, and will line up 16th - two places behind a frustrated Franchitti.

''Physically, I'm strong,'' the Scot said. ''The problem is the car. I didn't feel the wind too badly, except coming off Turn 3, so I don't think that is causing our biggest problem at the moment. We're just struggling a little bit right now. But we did our race set-up on Friday and are reasonably happy with that - our car may not be the best, but we're still in much better shape than at Homestead.''

Fellow Briton Mark Blundell suffered too, slumping to 19th overall after an early qualifying slot, but the PacWest driver's team-mate Mauricio Gugelmin at least salvaged 12th for the team when he went out.

In worse shape, however, was the Arciero Project entry of Luiz Garcia Jr. The Brazilian was more than five seconds off the pace in his year-old Reynard, and was withdrawn by the team.

''We worked very hard at this,'' Garcia sighed, ''but the car simply doesn't work aerodynamically. We're excited about getting the 2000 Reynard, though, and we'll be ready for Long Beach.''

The weather many feared arriving for today's qualifying session may still make it to Pennsylvania tomorrow, with a big drop in temperatures and wet conditions forecast. Although the worst of it is likely to have passed before the green flag drops, the teams will be again be praying for a mistaken prediction

''It will be interesting with the cold weather,'' pole-sitter Montoya smiled. ''It will be the same for everybody, but it will be interesting to see who makes the best guesses on set-up. Our car has been good all weekend and I think we have a good set-up for the race. We've had no problems at all with the engine this weekend, and I think what happened at Homestead was a freak thing, so I feel very good about the car.

''We've been quick everywhere we've tested and we had some very good short oval tests. I think if anything, we might be a step ahead of everyone.''

It's an ominous thought.