Wilson tops damp first qualifying

A fascinating session ended with the Briton's RuSPORT car almost 0.9 seconds quicker than his nearest pursuer, Simon Pagenaud of Team Australia.

Both Wilson and Pagenaud got held up over the course of the session, Pagenaud by Ryan Dalziel (Pacific Coast Motorsport) as he aimed to snatch pole from Wilson, and Justin himself by Pagenaud's teammate Will Power earlier on.

However, almost everyone had similar tales to tell. The rain started towards the end of the pre-qualifying session, but stopped just before qualifying proper, which meant several drivers headed out at once and got in each other's way.

Then with 10 minutes of the 35 minute session still to go, the rain returned, just as Minardi Team USA were getting brave enough to send Dan Clarke and local hero Robert Doornbos out on slicks. That shower ended though, the track started to dry once more, and that was when Wilson laid his fastest lap.

The changing conditions caught out Sebastien Bourdais of Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing who had decided not to go back out after completing seven laps. It meant he dropped from third to sixth, while teammate Graham Rahal grabbed third place with his 13th lap.

The position should have gone to PKV Racing's Tristan Gommendy, but along with Power, he had his fastest time deleted for ignoring the chequered flag at the end of the session.

Forsythe Championship Racing duo Oriol Servia and Paul Tracy were happy with the handling of their cars in the wet, and took fifth and 10th.

However, Tracy's fastest time, which would have put him eighth, was deleted for causing a red flag when he spun and stalled. The Canadian was heading for a lap that would have put him third fastest, until his error at the final chicane.

Alex Figge performed well to clock 13th fastest for Pacific Coast Motorsports, ahead of Clarke, Heylen and his own teammate Dalziel.

Pos  Driver              Team                 Time
 1.  Justin Wilson       RuSPORT              1:30.656
 2.  Simon Pagenaud      Team Australia       1:31.550  + 0.894
 3.  Tristan Gommendy    PKV Racing           1:31.674  + 1.018
 4.  Graham Rahal        Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1:31.858  + 1.202
 5.  Oriol Servia        Forsythe             1:31.900  + 1.244
 6.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1:32.244  + 1.588
 7.  Will Power          Team Australia       1:32.273  + 1.617
 8.  Robert Doornbos     Minardi Team USA     1:32.343  + 1.687
 9.  Alex Tagliani       Rocketsports         1:32.607  + 1.951
10.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe             1:32.719  + 2.063
11.  Neel Jani           PKV Racing           1:33.043  + 2.387
12.  Bruno Junqueira     Dale Coyne Racing    1:33.299  + 2.643
13.  Alex Figge          Pacific Coast        1:33.710  + 3.054
14.  Dan Clarke          Minardi Team USA     1:33.722  + 3.066
15.  Jan Heylen          Conquest Racing      1:33.769  + 3.113
16.  Ryan Dalziel        Pacific Coast        1:34.136  + 3.480
17.  Katherine Legge     Dale Coyne Racing    1:36.110  + 5.454