Wilson tops first Long Beach practice

Newman Haas Lanigan driver Wilson's 1:08.286 lap with three minutes to go saw him edge ahead of KV Racing's Power by exactly one tenth of a second.

Alex Tagliani - who is making a one-off appearance with Walker Racing - took third, with Mario Dominguez and Pacific Coast Motorsports ending the morning in a highly impressive fourth place.

Like Tagliani and Walker, Dominguez and PCM have been unable to put together a programme in the merged IRL IndyCar Series for this year, so Long Beach could be their only open-wheel appearance of 2008.

The Mexican driver was fastest of all for 15 minutes towards the end of the session, before being demoted by Tagliani, Power and Wilson.

Oriol Servia completed the top five in the second KV Racing car.

Paul Tracy was sixth fastest in the first session of his final weekend with Forsythe, just ahead of teammate Franck Montagny. The former Super Aguri Formula One driver was the best of those classified as rookies for this race, and had led the way during the opening half hour.

Rocketsports' Antonio Pizzonia - having his first Champ Car outing since the end of the 2006 season - took eighth, with Conquest driver Franck Perera and Dominguez's PCM teammate Alex Figge filling the final top ten spots.

Bruno Junqueira caused the only red flag of the session when he stopped on the pits straight on his sixth lap, but Dale Coyne Racing were able to repair the car in time for him to rejoin in the closing minutes.

Pos  Driver            Team                 Time
 1.  Justin Wilson     Newman Haas Lanigan  1:08.286
 2.  Will Power        KV Racing            1:08.386  + 0.100
 3.  Alex Tagliani     Walker               1:08.435  + 0.149
 4.  Mario Dominguez   Pacific Coast        1:08.568  + 0.282
 5.  Oriol Servia      KV Racing            1:08.602  + 0.316
 6.  Paul Tracy        Forsythe Pettit      1:08.633  + 0.347
 7.  Franck Montagny   Forsythe Pettit      1:09.086  + 0.800
 8.  Antonio Pizzonia  Rocketsports         1:09.228  + 0.942
 9.  Franck Perera     Conquest             1:09.415  + 1.129
10.  Alex Figge        Pacific Coast        1:09.507  + 1.221
11.  David Martinez    Forsythe Pettit      1:09.522  + 1.236
12.  Enrique Bernoldi  Conquest             1:09.530  + 1.244
13.  Graham Rahal      Newman Haas Lanigan  1:09.544  + 1.258
14.  Bruno Junqueira   Dale Coyne           1:09.592  + 1.306
15.  Jimmy Vasser      KV Racing            1:09.660  + 1.374
16.  Nelson Philippe   Minardi HVM          1:10.151  + 1.865
17.  Roberto Moreno    Minardi HVM          1:10.532  + 2.246
18.  Mario Moraes      Dale Coyne           1:10.992  + 2.706
19.  EJ Viso           HVM                  1:11.065  + 2.779
20.  Juho Annala       Rocketsports         1:13.051  + 4.765