Doornbos fastest in warm-up

In the Sunday morning warm-up, the Dutchman lapped the 2.621-mile course in 1:17.481 at an average speed of 121.780mph to snatch the top spot from crowd favourite Alex Tagliani of RSPORTS.

Tagliani was the first to duck into the 1:17s, when the session was stopped while the safety team removed the wreck of his compatriot Paul Tracy, who crashed off at Turn 11, ripping the right rear corner off his Forsythe Championship Racing car.

The start of the session was mainly about scrubbing in the red [soft] Bridgestone tyres, but by the end, pole-sitter Tristan Gommendy was looking genuinely quick in the PKV Racing car, as was Oriol Servia who, like Forsythe teammate Tracy, has been revelling in the handling of his car since yesterday.

Both Forsythe drivers were cursing the rain showers before qualifying yesterday, for they each felt they could have grabbed a top four grid slot had the session not been so mixed. It remains to be seen whether Tracy's spare car can be set-up to such a competitive pitch.

All drivers but Tracy ended the session with standing start practice. Tony Cotman, Champ Car's VPO has decreed that the cars will bypass the tight chicane at the start.

Gommendy, meanwhile, after much debate, decided that pole position will be on the right.

Pos  Driver              Team                        Time
 1.  Robert Doornbos     Minardi Team USA            1:17.481
 2.  Alex Tagliani       RSPORTS                     1:17.734 + 0.253
 3.  Tristan Gommendy    PKV                         1:17.936 + 0.455
 4.  Oriol Servia        Forsythe Championship       1:18.154 + 0.673
 5.  Ryan Dalziel        Pacific Coast Motorsports   1:18.484 + 1.003
 6.  Alex Figge          Pacific Coast Motorsports   1:18.536 + 1.055
 7.  Justin Wilson       RSPORTS                     1:18.603 + 1.122
 8.  Will Power          Team Australia              1:18.621 + 1.140
 9.  Sebastien Bourdais  Newman/Haas/Lanigan         1:18.754 + 1.273
10.  Bruno Junqueira     Dale Coyne                  1:18.885 + 1.404
11.  Dan Clarke          Minardi Team USA            1:19.183 + 1.702
12.  Graham Rahal        Newman/Haas/Lanigan         1:19.387 + 1.906
13.  Jan Heylen          Conquest                    1:19.529 + 2.048
14.  Neel Jani           PKV                         1:19.569 + 2.088
15.  Katherine Legge     Dale Coyne                  1:19.704 + 2.223
16.  Simon Pagenaud      Team Australia              1:19.783 + 2.302
17.  Paul Tracy          Forsythe Championship       1:20.492 + 3.011