Bourdais tops Road America practice

The Frenchman clocked 1.43.444 of the 4.048-mile circuit to set an average speed of 140.876mph, to eclipse the fastest time hitherto, that of Will Power's Team Australia's machine.

In fact it was the Australian who caused the session to end early, spinning into the sand-trap at Turn 8, to cause a red/chequer situation.

Alex Tagliani of RSPORTS was third, 1.1 seconds off Bourdais, but went off twice trying to improve his time. He was luckier than teammate Justin Wilson, however, who went off under braking for Turn 14, right after setting his personal best lap.

Jan Heylen, sporting a new sponsor that sees his formerly black Conquest Racing car evolve into a green and white one, was sixth fastest, proving his testing pace here earlier in the summer was not a one-off.

This event also marks the return of Ryan Dalziel, who missed the last round, at San Jose, because of multiple fractures to his collarbone. The Pacific Coast Motorsports driver wound up 16th fastest.