Penske fightback continues at Long Beach

The Brazilian, who started from pole in the season opener at Homestead three weeks ago, managed that time despite crashing in morning practice. He has always excelled at Long Beach yet somehow never managed to win the event.

In 1996 he was five laps from a dominant victory when a power-sapping turbo problem dropped him to fifth while a smart strategy left him looking good for a win in 1998 until gearbox failure intervened.

'In qualifying we were just trying to squeeze the best out of the car,' he explained. 'The team is going quite well, this is the first road course race of the year and we're right there.

'It's good to see all the work over the winter is paying off.'

The second Marlboro Team Penske Reynard-Honda was seventh fastest in the hands of Helio Castro-Neves. Ironically, De Ferran and Castro Neves fought out a spectacular battle for the lead of this race in 1998 before both hit trouble in the closing stages.