Mutoh tops first practice in Iowa

The Andretti-Green driver set his 17.4023-second lap early in the session, which was extended to two hours to make up for the track time lost to rain in yesterday's pre-race test.

The morning was punctuated by two substantial crashes at Turn 2. Roth Racing owner/driver Marty Roth was first to spin into the wall at the corner, and then in the closing stages Bruno Junqueira had a heavier accident at the same spot.

The Brazilian's Dale Coyne Racing Dallara made contact with Dan Wheldon's Ganassi car on the way into the barriers, which could force Wheldon to use his spare car for qualifying later today.

Junqueira is likely to have to miss both qualifying and the race due to the severe damage to his machine, although he escaped injury in the crash.

Despite the crash, Wheldon remained third fastest in the session, behind Mutoh and Penske's Ryan Briscoe.

Test pace-setter Danica Patrick (Andretti Green) was seventh this morning, with points leader Scott Dixon ninth quickest for Ganassi.

Dreyer & Reinbold driver Milka Duno had crashed heavily in yesterday's test, but the team got her back-up car ready in time for Duno to join the later stages of practice.

Pos  Driver             Team                 Time
 1.  Hideki Mutoh       Andretti Green       17.4023
 2.  Ryan Briscoe       Penske               17.4326  + 0.0303
 3.  Dan Wheldon        Ganassi              17.4371  + 0.0348
 4.  Marco Andretti     Andretti Green       17.4429  + 0.0406
 5.  Vitor Meira        Panther              17.4577  + 0.0554
 6.  Tony Kanaan        Andretti Green       17.5025  + 0.1002
 7.  Danica Patrick     Andretti Green       17.5053  + 0.1030
 8.  Helio Castroneves  Penske               17.5141  + 0.1118
 9.  Scott Dixon        Ganassi              17.5254  + 0.1231
10.  Ryan Hunter-Reay   Rahal Letterman      17.5768  + 0.1745
11.  Graham Rahal       Newman/Haas/Lanigan  17.5801  + 0.1778
12.  Ed Carpenter       Vision               17.5808  + 0.1785
13.  AJ Foyt IV         Vision               17.5876  + 0.1853
14.  Buddy Rice         Dreyer & Reinbold    17.6100  + 0.2077
15.  John Andretti      Roth                 17.6262  + 0.2239
16.  Oriol Servia       KV                   17.6553  + 0.2530
17.  EJ Viso            HVM                  17.6593  + 0.2570
18.  Will Power         KV                   17.6673  + 0.2650
19.  Darren Manning     Foyt                 17.6822  + 0.2799
20.  Justin Wilson      Newman/Haas/Lanigan  17.7941  + 0.3018
21.  Bruno Junqueira    Dale Coyne           17.7071  + 0.3048
22.  Enrique Bernoldi   Conquest             17.7198  + 0.3175
23.  Jamie Camara       Conquest             17.8042  + 0.4019
24.  Mario Moraes       Dale Coyne           17.8132  + 0.4109
25.  Marty Roth         Roth                 18.0544  + 0.6521
26.  Milka Duno         Dreyer & Reinbold    18.8063  + 1.4040