Rahal hopeful for qualifying

The team prepares for the opening race amid growing speculation that it is set for a season which is as bad as the last. And those fears were not allayed when new boy Luciano Burti slid into the crash barriers in the second of Friday's practice session.

"I was pushing it a little too hard and I just got the rear left wheel on the grass and it spun me around," the Brazilian admitted. "Unfortunately, there's no room for mistakes here. I spun pretty slowly, to be honest, but that was enough to put me into the wall."

Burti's accident left him 18th quickest, more than 4s off the pace, but Irvine was a more respectable 13th, but still more than 2.5s behind the leaders.

"I think Eddie will show fairly well in qualifying and we have a fairly well balanced car," said Rahal.

"Jaguar will work hard tonight in an effort to find a little more speed, but I am expecting it to be very tightly packed midfield grid."

For the full practice session 2 results click here.