Usual names top Vegas practice
Sebastien Bourdais, Paul Tracy and Justin Wilson gave the timesheet a familiar look at the start of Champ Car's new era, as they finished opening practice in Las Vegas 1-2-3 respectively
Triple champion Bourdais drove the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing-run DP01 round the 2.44-mile street course at an average speed 104.096mph to go a little over a tenth of a second faster than Tracy's Forsythe Championship Racing entry.
Wilson's RSPORT was a further 0.3 seconds down.
Rookies starred too, with Simon Pagenaud of Team Australia clocking fourth, Neel Jani of PKV Racing fifth, both ahead of series veteran Alex Tagliani in the second RSPORT car.
Graham Rahal snatched seventh in the second Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing entry.
Matt Halliday flung the lone Conquest Racing entry to ninth, while Bruno Junqueira impressed with tenth until he ended the session prematurely with a minor strike of the Turn 9 tyres.
Dan Clarke, who has had no seat time in the DP01, was slowest in the Minardi USA car - 4.7 seconds off Bourdais's pace.
The Briton had a harmless slide into an escape road at Turn 4, but Alex Figge of Pacific Coast Motorsports was not so lucky, making contact with the wall in Turn 3.
Nonetheless, the American's fastest lap put him 11th quickest of the session.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Sebastien Bourdais Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1:24.384 2. Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship 1:24.460 + 0.076 3. Justin Wilson RSPORTS 1:24.768 + 0.384 4. Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 1:24.999 + 0.615 5. Neel Jani PKV 1:25.463 + 1.079 6. Alex Tagliani RSPORTS 1:25.559 + 1.175 7. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1:25.682 + 1.298 8. Will Power Team Australia 1:26.064 + 1.680 9. Matthew Halliday Conquest 1:26.161 + 1.777 10. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne 1:26.230 + 1.846 11. Alex Figge Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:26.402 + 2.018 12. Tristan Gommendy PKV 1:26.494 + 2.110 13. Mario Dominguez Forsythe Championship 1:27.099 + 2.715 14. Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 1:27.542 + 3.158 15. Ryan Dalziel Pacific Coast Motorsports 1:28.629 + 4.245 16. Katherine Legge Dale Coyne 1:29.121 + 4.737 17. Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 1:29.180 + 4.796
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