French rookie Sébastien Bourdais took pole position at an average speed of 106.710 mph (171.733 km/h) for the Newman/Haas Racing team.

Paul Tracy lined up alongside him, with Adrian Fernández and Patrick Carpentier on row two.

On the third lap, Alex Tagliani struck the tire wall at turn 10, bringing out the first caution of the race.

Bourdais led until lap 31, when he lost the lead to Tiago Monteiro in the first scheduled pit stops.

This left Tracy unchallenged, the Canadian scoring the first victory of the 2003 season in his first race driving for Team Player's.