Friday practice: TK leads Audi one-two

"The car is working fine, but we weren't going for the times today," said Kristensen, who set the qualifying mark last year at 1m14.537s. "Dindo will be going for the times tomorrow during qualifying."

The Panoz LMP-01 of Jan Magnussen trailed the factory R8s, but turned a quicker lap than the privateer Audi of Champion. The winner of last year's race along with David Brabham, Magnussen's best lap of 1m16.096s was eight tenths quicker than Johnny Herbert in the Champion Audi. Stefan Johansson practiced briefly on the twisty 2.258-mile course in his first appearance co-driving with Herbert in the privateer Audi.

Bryan Herta drove the number 51 Panoz to a lap of 1m16.939s for fifth quickest. John Field led the 675 category and was sixth overall with his lap of 1m18.040s in his Lola-MG. "The lighter weight is very helpful," said Field. "But we're having trouble with turbo lag.

Ron Fellows (Corvette) led the GTS category despite an electrical problem from melted wires in the engine bay early in the session. Terry Borcheller was surprisingly close in the Saleen S7R at 1m23.365s, just behind the number four Corvette of Andy Pilgrim. "The balance of our car helps a lot on this track," said Borcheller. "But on the straight the Corvettes still pull us by three car lengths."

David Murry set the fastest time in the GT category aboard a new Porsche GT3 RS entered and co-driven by Larry Schumacher. That pipped the factory-assisted Alex Job Porsche of Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen.