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Franchitti leads Long Beach practice

Dario Franchitti topped Friday morning practice for the IndyCar Series' Long Beach debut

The Scotsman and his Ganassi team are making their first appearance at the legendary California street track since 2002, as Long Beach has been added to the unified IndyCar schedule this year after hosting the Champ Car finale last season.

Franchitti's time of 1m11.1915s gave him a clear 0.3-second margin over St Petersburg winner Ryan Briscoe (Penske) in second place.

Mario Moraes took a surprise third for KV Racing, which is set to announce this afternoon that it will add Paul Tracy to its line-up for at least the Indianapolis 500.

Will Power took fourth in the second Penske car, but the main news for Roger Penske's team was that while practice was underway Helio Castroneves was found not guilty by the jury in his tax evasion trial in Miami.

The Brazilian is expected to reclaim his seat from Power from the next race at Kansas, amid speculation that he could even fly straight to Long Beach to drive a third Penske entry this weekend.

Newman/Haas/Lanigan duo Graham Rahal and Robert Doornbos completed the top six, Doornbos having been comfortably fastest in the initial half-hour session for rookies and drivers outside the top ten in the championship.

Reigning champion Scott Dixon was seventh for Ganassi, with Mike Conway impressing for Dreyer & Reinbold again in ninth - although Luczo Dragon's Raphael Matos was the top rookie this time, one place ahead.

Andretti Green had a disappointing session, with Tony Kanaan - the best of its drivers - having a spin on the way to 11th ahead of St Pete heroes Ryan Hunter-Reay (Vision) and Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing)

Alex Tagliani and Darren Manning have managed to extend their respective one-race deals with Conquest and Dreyer & Reinbold to encompass Long Beach as well, and were 17th and 18th fastest.

Pos  Driver            Team                 Time
 1.  Dario Franchitti  Ganassi              1m11.1915s
 2.  Ryan Briscoe      Penske               1m11.5385s  + 0.3470s
 3.  Mario Moraes      KV                   1m11.6395s  + 0.4480s
 4.  Will Power        Penske               1m11.6512s  + 0.4597s
 5.  Graham Rahal      Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1m11.6777s  + 0.4862s
 6.  Robert Doornbos   Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1m11.9263s  + 0.7348s
 7.  Scott Dixon       Ganassi              1m11.9562s  + 0.7647s
 8.  Raphael Matos     Luczo Dragon         1m12.023s   + 0.8318s
 9.  Mike Conway       Dreyer & Reinbold    1m12.0611s  + 0.8696s
10.  EJ Viso           HVM                  1m12.1371s  + 0.9456s
11.  Tony Kanaan       Andretti Green       1m12.3380s  + 1.1465s
12.  Ryan Hunter-Reay  Vision               1m12.3799s  + 1.1884s
13.  Justin Wilson     Dale Coyne           1m12.5172s  + 1.3257s
14.  Marco Andretti    Andretti Green       1m12.6952s  + 1.5037s
15.  Hideki Mutoh      Andretti Green       1m12.7809s  + 1.5894s
16.  Dan Wheldon       Panther              1m12.8060s  + 1.6145s
17.  Alex Tagliani     Conquest             1m13.3121s  + 2.1206s
18.  Darren Manning    Dreyer & Reinbold    1m13.4413s  + 2.2498s
19.  Vitor Meira       Foyt                 1m13.5154s  + 2.3239s
20.  Danica Patrick    Andretti Green       1m13.8488s  + 2.6573s
21.  Ed Carpenter      Vision               1m13.8651s  + 2.6736s
22.  Stanton Barrett   3G                   1m14.1921s  + 3.0006s

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