Player's team pleased with Gidley debut

The American driver is substituting for Patrick Carpentier, who suffered a broken wrist in a fall at his Las Vegas home.

'The session went pretty well considering the fact I had to sit out eight minutes in the pits because I spun and stalled on the track on my first qualifying lap,' said Gidley.

'The tires were too cold when I tried to pass a slower car. I think we'll be fine tomorrow.'

Gidley, who made his CART debut last season when Walker Racing's Naoki Hattori broke a leg, will replace Carpentier for at least two events. He was 19th fastest in the session, three places and 0.6s behind understeer troubled team-mate Alex Tagliani.

'I thought Memo did real well considering he only got into the car this morning and had to go through the whole process of being with a new team,' said Chief Engineer Michael Cannon.

'It's too bad about the spin, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Just the fact he'll wake up tomorrow morning with the first day behind him will be a positive.'