Castroneves leads rain-affected free practice

After the day's first free practice session was washed out by Wisconsin rain, the Penske driver lapped the Milwaukee Mile in 22.300s to take the top spot ahead of the Newman-Haas Lola of Christiano da Matta in second place.

Castroneves has had a busy week after leading a Penske one-two ahead of team mate Gil de Ferran in the Indy 500 last weekend. After countless photo calls and television interviews, the Brazilian could have been forgiven for being a little jaded this weekend, but that was far from the case.

"I was kinda hoping all that stuff might wear him out," quipped Kenny Brack, who leads Castroneves in the CART championship standings by just two points. The Swede wound up third fastest in his Team Rahal Lola.

"We've had a good set-up on ovals, right off the trailer, all season and my car felt fast from the start of practice," said Castroneves. "I know everybody will improve tomorrow, but this is a good feeling."

Tony Kanaan finished the day in fourth, closely followed by his Mo Nunn Racing team mate Alex Zanardi in fifth. The Italian continued to find his form after a slow start to the season, by lapping just 0.426s behind Castroneves' benchmark time.

Patrick Racing's Jimmy Vasser rounded out the top six with Paul Tracy close behind, while the Canadian's Team Green team mate Dario Franchitti finished an unlucky 13th.

The Chip Ganassi racing duo of Bruno Junqueira and Nicolas Minassian were clearly struggling to get back into the swing of things after their Indy 500 exploits. The Champ Car rookies finished 14th and 27th respectively.

After a rain-affected first day, the drivers will be hoping the weather holds tomorrow. Should qualifying be rained off Kenny Brack will take pole according to championship positions, but there will be more than a few who hope that's not the case.

"I hope the weather co-operates, because I want to be able to qualify tomorrow," said second-fastest man da Matta. "I feel like we've got a lot of speed left..."


1 H. Castroneves Reynard-Honda 22.300s
2 C. da Matta Lola-Toyota 22.463s
3 K. Brack Lola-Ford 22.535s
4 T. Kanaan Reynard-Honda 22.547s
5 A. Zanardi Reynard-Honda 22.647s
6 J. Vasser Reynard-Toyota22.726s
7 P. Tracy Reynard-Honda 22.756s
8 S. Nakano Reynard-Honda 22.757s
9 B. Herta Reynard-Ford 22.775s
10 M. Papis Lola-Ford 22.812s
11 G. de Ferran Reynard-Honda 22.842s
12 M. Andretti Reynard-Honda 22.846s
13 D. Franchitti Reynard-Honda 22.878s
14 B. Junqueira Lola-Toyota 22.893s
15 M. Jourdain Jr. Lola-Ford 22.899s
16 M. Gugelmin Reynard-Toyota22.902s
17 A. Fernandez Reynard-Honda 22.905s
18 S. Dixon Reynard-Toyota22.920s
19 N. Minassian Lola-Toyota 22.993s
20 C. Fittipaldi Lola-Toyota 23.028s
21 P. Carpentier Reynard-Ford 23.047s
22 T. Takagi Reynard-Toyota23.121s
23 A. Tagliani Reynard-Ford 23.125s
24 O. Servia Lola-Ford 23.194s
25 R. Moreno Reynard-Toyota23.311s
26 C. Fittipaldi Lola-Toyota 23.359s
27 N. Minassian Lola-Toyota 23.434s
28 B. Junqueira Lola-Toyota 23.590s
29 T. Takagi Reynard-Toyota23.731s
30 M. Wilson Lola-Ford 23.750s
31 C. da Matta Lola-Toyota 23.843 155.819s
32 B. Herta Reynard-Ford 23.920s
33 R. Moreno Reynard-Toyota24.181s
34 G. de Ferran Reynard-Honda 25.379s
35 M. Jourdain Jr. Lola-Ford 26.039
36 H. Castroneves Reynard-Honda 29.490
37 M. Andretti Reynard-Honda 33.921