First Practice: Brack's last gasp lap
Cristian da Matta set the pace through most of Friday opening Champ Car practice session at the Portland, Oregon road course, but da Matta was beaten in the closing minutes by Helio Castroneves and Kenny Brack.
Championship leader Brack turned the fastest lap of 58.606s on his last lap of the session, shading both Castroneves and da Matta. That meant it was Lola-Ford, Reynard-Honda and Lola-Toyota in the first three places.
Last weekend's winner Castroneves said he and the other Honda drivers were struggling to get the best from their engines at Portland. The 1.969-mile road course features two long straightaways and an average speed around 120 mph, so horsepower is more important in Portland than in was at last weekend's tight Detroit park circuit.
"We're down five mph on the straightaways," Castroneves said. "It makes our job much harder. It's ridiculous, a shame, but we've got to get on with our job. The main thing for all the Honda drivers is to survive the race. My car is great in the corners and I'm really pushing hard, but I have to say I'm hoping for rain for the race. That's what the weather forecast says will happen, so I hope they're right."
Indeed the weather in Portland is supposed to slowly deteriorate throughout the weekend, with cool weather and clouds yielding to run on Sunday.
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