Da Matta tops wet-dry practice

The Brazilian, in his second event for the RuSPORT team, had been top six material when the track was at its wettest, but jumped to prominence with a 1:02.595 lap of the 2.104 Burke Lakefront Airport course to set an average speed of 121.121 mph.

Alex Tagliani, who always shines on a treacherous surface, also timed his run to perfection to go second fastest for Team Australia, 0.6 seconds behind the leader. But the irrelevance of the final positions was indicated by Paul Tracy being third quickest with a lap some 2.35 seconds off da Matta's effort.

Tracy and new Forsythe Championship Racing teammate AJ Allmendinger had to sit out 16 and eight of the session's 75 minutes respectively due to spins resulting in red flags.

Tracy, in fact, wiped off his rear wing in one of his incidents.

Charles Zwolsman's Conquest Racing entry jumped to sixth in the final minute, while Jan Heylen of Dale Coyne Racing, who was quick when the track was its wettest, also managed to set a relatively 'dry time' to go seventh.

Sebastien Bourdais shone for Newman/Haas Racing on the soaking track but logged only eighth fastest. Katherine Legge's 10th fastest time, put the PKV Racing driver just a place behind fellow rookie Will Power (Team Australia).

Legge's British compatriot Dan Clarke had his session brought to a halt early when his third spin of the day resulted in a trip through the boggiest parts of the grass surrounding the airport's taxi-ways.

Pos  Driver        Team                          Time            
 1.  da Matta      RuSPORT                       1:02.595
 2.  Tagliani      Team Australia                1:03.133  + 0.538
 3.  Tracy         Forsythe Championship Racing  1:04.911  + 2.316
 4.  Allmendinger  Forsythe Championship Racing  1:05.039  + 2.444
 5.  Wilson        RuSPORT                       1:05.085  + 2.490
 6.  Zwolsman      Mi-Jack Conquest Racing       1:05.922  + 3.327
 7.  Heylen        Dale Coyne Racing             1:06.164  + 3.569
 8.  Bourdais      Newman/Haas Racing            1:06.376  + 3.781
 9.  Power         Team Australia                1:06.426  + 3.831
10.  Legge         PKV Racing                    1:06.481  + 3.886
11.  Philippe      CTE Racing - HVM              1:06.555  + 3.960
12.  Ranger        Mi-Jack Conquest Racing       1:06.793  + 4.198
13.  Junqueira     Newman/Haas Racing            1:07.797  + 5.202
14.  Dominguez     Dale Coyne Racing             1:08.051  + 5.456
15.  Kasemets      Rocketsports Racing           1:08.191  + 5.596
16.  Pastorelli    Rocketsports Racing           1:08.372  + 5.777
17.  Servia        PKV Racing                    1:08.412  + 5.817
18.  Clarke        CTE Racing - HVM              1:10.943  + 8.348

All Timing Unofficial