Wilson 'Seriously Disappointed'

The Briton, who showed the Champ Car field a clean pair of heels at the last race in Portland only to be denied a maiden win due to an engine failure, could manage only eighth on the provisional grid in Ohio.

The fast S-bends and bone-jarring bumps of the Burke Lakefront Airport temporary circuit require a very different set-up from Portland's long-duration, medium-speed corners, and so far Wilson and the RuSPORT team have been unable to find the handling sweet spot.

To make matters worse, Wilson was docked his fastest lap for causing a red-flag stoppage in the waning moments of the session, relegating him from seventh to eighth.

"I'm seriously disappointed," he said. "We need to get the car better overall to contend for the pole, but we're better than P8.

"One of the other cars was on the outside into Turn Six and I was on the racing line and much faster, but then he cut down on me and I had to spin to avoid a crash.

"So this was not the session we wanted, but we'll get to work on it for tomorrow."

Teammate AJ Allmendinger struggled to achieve a consistent balance on his car but still felt he deserved more than ninth.

"In practice we had oversteer and in qualifying we had understeer, so we're searching for that one balance," reported the American.

"The red flag" - ironically triggered by Wilson - "hurt us a bit because I was three-tenths up on that lap and I could have made up several positions.

"So I think really we're two- or three-tenths off the pole. I think it's in the car, but we definitely need to get the balance better and I need to learn to get around the track a little better too."