Rahal leads final practice

 The American's 1:43.099 lap (141.348mph) put him almost 0.7 seconds quicker than Alex Tagliani, who again looked a strong force at the track where he scored his solitary Champ Car victory three years ago. The Canadian did just enough to pip former teammate Will Power for second quickest.
 
It was Tristan Gommendy's turn to look the stronger of the PKV Racing cars this morning, logging the fourth fastest time.

However, his teammate Neel Jani could already be in a strong position having qualified third yesterday, for forecasts suggest rain is on its way to Elkhart Lake's beautiful 4.048-mile course.
 
Conversely, should the rain hold off, the cloud cover may reduce track temperatures to below the 'evening session' levels seen yesterday, thereby increasing the grip levels this afternoon.
 
This morning's session was punctuated by three red flags for Bourdais (gearbox failure at pitlane entrance), Paul Tracy (beached in the Turn 5 run-off), and Ryan Dalziel (beached in the sandtrap at Turn 14).
 
Tracy's understeer problems continue, leaving him an embarrassing distance from Forsythe Championship Racing teammate Oriol Servia who himself has little to crow about currently.
 
However, their problems are shaded by Katherine Legge's despair at the handling of her Dale Coyne Racing machine, and there are rumours that she is on the verge of withdrawing unless a remedy can be found.

Pos  Driver              Team                 Time
 1.  Graham Rahal        Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1:43.099
 2.  Alex Tagliani       RSPORTS              1:43.783  + 0.684
 3.  Will Power          Team Australia       1:43.798  + 0.699
 4.  Tristan Gommendy    PKV Racing           1:43.851  + 0.752
 5.  Justin Wilson       RSPORTS              1:43.882  + 0.783
 6.  Simon Pagenaud      Team Australia       1:43.917  + 0.818
 7.  Dan Clarke          Minardi Team USA     1:44.259  + 1.160
 8.  Robert Doornbos     Minardi Team USA     1:44.338  + 1.239
 9.  Neel Jani           PKV Racing           1:44.637  + 1.538
10.  Jan Heylen          Conquest Racing      1:44.783  + 1.684
11.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1:44.792  + 1.693
12.  Bruno Junqueira     Dale Coyne Racing    1:44.888  + 1.789
13.  Oriol Servià        Forsythe             1:45.146  + 2.047
14.  Ryan Dalziel        Pacific Coast        1:45.379  + 2.280
15.  Alex Figge          Pacific Coast        1:45.587  + 2.488
16.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe             1:46.222  + 3.123
17.  Katherine Legge     Dale Coyne Racing    1:46.697  + 3.598