Darren Manning Long Beach column

Long Beach was an uphill battle from the word go, but we came away with some points after finishing eighth. I was amazed how many people were on hand all weekend. The spectator participation was fantastic and there were plenty of stars. I had Johnny Rotten in my pit box in qualifying, cheering on a fellow Brit. He supports Arsenal, whereas I support Leeds United, but I won't hold that against him because he might punch me!

We started off with something similar to last year's set-up, and now we know for sure that Tora Takagi's set-ups don't suit me at all. We're just beginning to get enough data to form a starting point, and we lost the whole of the first day in that respect. The car was very difficult to drive and I was struggling to get it slowed down.

But overnight we made a number of calculated changes and in Saturday practice we shot straight into the top seven. We were the fastest Reynard by a big chunk in practice and also in qualifying, though maybe I could have found a couple or three more tenths if I'd got every sector perfect. In general we struggled here compared to the Lolas because bumpy circuits don't seem to suit the Reynard. But I have to say the guys did a fantastic job. With more testing we'll get even more competitive.

We pitted a lap early at the end of the first stint because my tyres were pretty well used up. There was a yellow right away; some of the guys in front pitted and so did some of the guys in the back, and they benefited because there was another yellow right away. In hindsight, maybe we should have stopped during that yellow because we could have gone to the end on only one more stop and we could have finished fifth.

Ryan Hunter-Reay and I had some good battles all day long - one time we came out of the pits side by side and that made for some good television. The race pace was hellishly fast and, because the gears are so short at Long Beach, you're shifting all the time. It's bumpy and you're literally steering and controlling the car with one arm. With 20 laps to go I got the same kind of excruciating pain in my right foot that I had at Monterrey, but I managed to make it to the finish at a reasonable pace.

My car had support at Long Beach from the US Air Force, which has a strong presence in California. It was nice to show support for the British and American troops over in Iraq, and the Air Force awarded us a plaque, which I'm sure will go up in the Walker shop.

Three races, three top 10s, but hopefully we're saving the best for Brands Hatch. See you there!