Bourdais on provisional pole

The Newman/Haas driver lapped the circuit in 1:07.675 to pip his teammate Bruno Junqueira by just 0.066 seconds. Paul Tracy was third, 0.272 seconds off Bourdais.

Afterwards Bourdais commented: "This is unusual for me to be quickest after the first day. Normally I'm moaning about how green the track is and that I can't find a balance, but today there was not that problem.

"It just goes to prove that Newman/Haas did not settle back over winter and expect success to come: the guys have worked hard to keep an edge."

Junqueira echoed his teammate's comments, but was more delighted to prove that he was back on form after 10 months since racing a single-seater in anger: "I am so happy today. Very, very happy to be back but also because it is so close between me and Sebastien."

Tracy was less content, having ended his session with a smashed wheel after tagging the wall. He also had a problem with his downshift that had plagued him in the morning session but which his team had not yet had a chance to sort out.

"My first set of tyres was good but I made some mistakes on that run. We switched to the reds (stickier 'qualifying' tyres) but that's when we hit the wall," said Tracy.

RuSPORT pair AJ Allmendinger and Justin Wilson finished fourth and sixth, split by Team Australia's Alex Tagliani, whose teammate Will Power was a commendable seventh fastest in his first drive at the Long Beach circuit.

An upbeat Allmendinger commented: "Until now, I'd never really had a good car round here, so for me it's like learning a new circuit. But yeah, I think we've showed the team's made progress.

"I'm not convinced we're going to be fighting for the win, but we're podium contenders if the balance that we currently have works when there's even more rubber down tomorrow and Sunday. We're a lot happier this year."

Jimmy Vasser, for whom this may be the final Champ Car race of his career, slid into a tyre wall, bringing out a red and chequer with two minutes to go.

As a result, he lost his fastest lap time, but that made no difference to his position of 13th, two places ahead of Britain's Champ Car debutant Katherine Legge and four places behind Oriol Servia.

Cristiano da Matta impressed everyone with eighth quickest for Dale Coyne Racing, as did Dan Clarke with 10th fastest, two places ahead of teammate Nelson Philippe.

Ex-F1 racer Antonio Pizzonia lies 14th in his Rocketsports entry.

Pos  Driver              Team              Time
 1.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman/Haas       1:07.675
 2.  Bruno Junqueira     Newman/Haas       1:07.741 + 0.066
 3.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe          1:07.947 + 0.272
 4.  A.J. Allmendinger   RuSPORT           1:08.030 + 0.355
 5.  Alex Tagliani       Team Australia    1:08.102 + 0.427
 6.  Justin Wilson       RuSPORT           1:08.318 + 0.643
 7.  Will Power          Team Australia    1:08.515 + 0.840
 8.  Cristiano da Matta  Dale Coyne        1:08.594 + 0.919
 9.  Oriol Servia        PKV               1:08.753 + 1.078
10.  Dan Clarke          CTE - HVM         1:08.766 + 1.091
11.  Mario Dominguez     Forsythe          1:08.871 + 1.196
12.  Nelson Philippe     CTE - HVM         1:08.905 + 1.230
13.  Jimmy Vasser        PKV               1:09.091 + 1.416
14.  Antonio Pizzonia    Rocketsports      1:09.476 + 1.801
15.  Katherine Legge     PKV               1:09.747 + 2.072
16.  Andrew Ranger       Mi-Jack Conquest  1:10.063 + 2.388
17.  Charles Zwolsman    Mi-Jack Conquest  1:10.147 + 2.472
18.  Jan Heylen          Dale Coyne        1:11.078 + 3.403