Tracy on top at Road America

The Canadian took his Forsythe Championship Racing entry round the soaking 4.048-mile course in 2:10.215 to set an average speed of 111.913mph, knocking his nemesis Sebastien Bourdais off the top.

It wasn't all plain sailing for Tracy, though, as he slid into the gravel at Turn 6 while trying to get round Will Power.

Bourdais' Newman/Haas Racing entry had looked quite dominant at the start of the 75-minute session, but gradually the opposition whittled down his advantage.

RuSPORT's Justin Wilson finished the session half a second behind the championship leader.

Power and Alex Tagliani ended up fourth and sixth for Team Australia, despite both taking off-track excursions. The pair were split by Dan Clarke, doing an impressive job in the CTE Racing-HVM entry.

AJ Allmendinger was quick when the track was at its wettest, but then spun into the gravel at Turn 12. He wound up seventh.

Jan Heylen did an excellent job for Dale Coyne Racing as usual, to wind up 11th, while his new teammate Juan Caceres impressed many onlookers with 13th fastest, less than half a second from the Belgian.

Given that this was only his third day in a Champ Car, his first in these conditions, and in the series' most daunting circuit, Caceres is making people sit up and take notice.

Pos  Driver              Team                   Time               Laps
 1.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe Championship  2:10.215            17
 2.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman Haas            2:10.401 +  0.186    6
 3.  Justin Wilson       RuSPORT                2:10.903 +  0.688   12
 4.  Will Power          Team Australia         2:11.306 +  1.091   21
 5.  Dan Clarke          CTE HVM                2:13.910 +  3.695   18
 6.  Alex Tagliani       Team Australia         2:14.115 +  3.900   12
 7.  A.J. Allmendinger   Forsythe Championship  2:14.202 +  3.987   11
 8.  Oriol Servia        PKV                    2:16.790 +  6.575   14
 9.  Bruno Junqueira     Newman Haas            2:17.307 +  7.092   14
10.  Nelson Philippe     CTE HVM                2:18.480 +  8.265   10
11.  Jan Heylen          Dale Coyne             2:19.401 +  9.186   12
12.  Andrew Ranger       Mi-Jack Conquest       2:19.718 +  9.503    9
13.  Juan Caceres        Dale Coyne             2:19.886 +  9.671   11
14.  Katherine Legge     PKV                    2:26.065 + 15.850   10
15.  Mario Dominguez     Rocketsports           2:28.571 + 18.356    6
16.  Tonis Kasemets      Rocketsports           6:20.341 + 10.126    3
17.  Charles Zwolsman    Mi-Jack Conquest       No Time              1