Bourdais leads first practice
In a morning practice session littered with red flags as ambition frequently overtook grip and talent, Sebastien Bourdais remained relatively error free on his way to topping the times at Assen
The drivers quickly got down to 1:20 laps at Champ Car's first visit to the 2.83-mile road course, and the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing ace set a 1:20.234 lap, an average speed of 126.979mph.
He pipped teammate Graham Rahal by just 0.034 seconds, and compatriot Simon Pagenaud of Team Australia by 0.06 seconds.
Oriol Servia was fourth with an excellent 1:20.399, but his Forsythe Champioship Racing teammate Paul Tracy was so crippled by understeer that on occasion he was having to dab the brakes through the supposedly flat-out sweeper before the final chicane. Tracy ended the session 1.4 seconds off the pace in 14th.
Tristan Gommendy showed improved form for PKV Racing with sixth fastest, ahead of Will Power (Team Australia) who is still mathematically in the championship hunt.
Returning from his one-race ban, Dan Clarke did well to go eighth fastest for Minardi Team USA, three places ahead of teammate and home crowd hero Robert Doornbos.
Bruno Junqueira of Dale Coyne Racing was over one second off the pace in 12th - a surprise given his recent strong form - but he was almost a second faster than teammate Katherine Legge.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Sebastien Bourdais Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1:20.234 2. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1:20.268 + 0.034 3. Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 1:20.294 + 0.060 4. Oriol Servia Forsythe 1:20.399 + 0.165 5. Justin Wilson RuSPORT 1:20.550 + 0.316 6. Tristan Gommendy PKV Racing 1:20.566 + 0.332 7. Will Power Team Australia 1:20.634 + 0.400 8. Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 1:20.733 + 0.499 9. Neel Jani PKV Racing 1:20.813 + 0.579 10. Jan Heylen Conquest Racing 1:21.179 + 0.945 11. Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 1:21.309 + 1.075 12. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 1:21.355 + 1.121 13. Alex Tagliani Rocketsports 1:21.403 + 1.169 14. Paul Tracy Forsythe 1:21.671 + 1.437 15. Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast 1:21.889 + 1.655 16. Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 1:22.302 + 2.068 17. Alex Figge Pacific Coast 1:22.760 + 2.526
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