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First practice from Motegi, Japan

Today's practice session was filled with frenetic activity, the quickest time changed seven times during the last 15 minutes

Adrian Fernandez came out on top with a blistering lap averaging 215.889 mph. 'We got the setup right last year, and that's basically what we used this morning,' he said.

Tricky conditions didn't inspire the drivers' confidence, the track temperature was just 12 C. Many drivers reported that the cars were moving around a lot in the 25mph winds but fortunately the session was free from accidents.

Competition was tight as ever, the top seven drivers were separated by just two-tenths of a second.

Times from Motegi's 1.5 mile oval

















































































































































































































Pos


Driver


Time


Speed (mph)


1


Adrian Fernandez


25.732


216.711


2


Mauricio Gugelmin


25.742


216.627


3


Paul Tracy


25.801


216.131


4


Jimmy Vasser


25.802


216.123


5


Michael Andretti


25.879


215.48


6


Greg Moore


25.907


215.247


7


Christian Fittipaldi


25.913


215.197


8


Juan Montoya


25.923


215.114


9


Tony Kanaan


25.94


214.973


10


Max Papis


25.99


214.559


11


PJ Jones


25.996


214.51


12


Dario Franchitti


26.007


214.419


13


Robby Gordon


26.026


214.263


14


Gil de Ferran


26.035


214.189


15


Patrick Carpentier


26.074


213.868


16


Bryan Herta


26.085


213.778


17


Scott Pruett


26.103


213.631


18


Mark Blundell


26.147


213.271


19


Alex Barron


26.25


212.434


20


Cristiano da Matta


26.278


212.208


21


Tarso Marques


26.287


212.135


22


Tony Kanaan


26.341


211.7


23


Luiz Garcia Jr.


26.594


209.686


24


Helio Castro-Neves


26.631


209.395


25


Helio Castro-Neves


26.757


208.409


26


Richie Hearn


26.807


208.02


27


Shigeaki Hattori


27.148


205.407


28


Gil de Ferran


27.248


204.654


29


Scott Pruett


27.267


204.511


30


Paul Tracy


27.416


203.399


31


Jimmy Vasser


27.457


203.096


32


Patrick Carpentier


27.618


201.912


33


Juan Montoya


28.132


198.223


34


Greg Moore


28.376


196.518


35


Cristiano da Matta


28.476


195.828


36


Michel Jourdain Jr.


28.988


192.369


37


Adrian Fernandez


29.01


192.223


38


Mauricio Gugelmin


33.77


165.129


39


Richie Hearn


38.347


145.419


40


Tarso Marques


40.211


138.678

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