Wilson tops morning practice
Justin Wilson gave his RuSPORT team a welcome fillip by conclusively topping morning practice at Surfers Paradise
The lanky Briton, who is currently without a ride for 2008 due to the impending demise of his Colorado-based squad, lapped the 2.795-mile track in a time of 1:32.754, setting an average speed of 108.481 mph.
Given that he won the previous Champ Car race at Assen six weeks ago, he had the best pitlane spot - right at pit exit - which meant after the multiple red flags as drivers struck walls and/or spun and stalled, Wilson was the first out onto the circuit.
With a clear track ahead, he set fastest sector after fastest sector, and once he finally nudged local hero Will Power off top spot, the RuSPORT entrant never looked under threat.
Power had a mixed session, with two wall-banging moments, as he tested the absolute limits of a track made slightly treacherous by the V8 Supercar's Dunlop control rubber smearing the track, and wound up 0.35 seconds off Wilson in third.
The driver separating them was none other than Oriol Servia in his first race back with 2006 employers PKV Racing. The Catalan, who is replacing Tristan Gommendy who is suffering 'business difficulties', had a couple of off-track excursions, one of which caused a red flag. But on track, he was less than 0.2 seconds off Wilson.
Bruno Junqueira and Mario Dominguez punched above their weight with Dale Coyne Racing and Pacific Coast Motorsports respectively, to take fourth and sixth places, separated by Sebastien Bourdais.
The French champion elect seemed to suffer the worst of the red flag scenarios, and then made a couple of errors, but it was still a surprise to see the Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing car half a second off the pace.
His compatriot Simon Pagenaud was comfortably the best of the Surfers Paradise virgins, even though he was 0.7 seconds off his Team Australia teammate, Power.
Alex Tagliani tagged a wall and broke his left front suspension after completing only eight laps, but his time was still enough to outpace Paul Tracy's Forsythe Championship Racing entry, as well as series returnee Nelson Philippe in the Conquest Racing car.
Pos Driver Team Time 1. Justin Wilson RuSPORT 1:32.754 2. Oriol Servia PKV Racing 1:32.939 + 0.185 3. Will Power Team Australia 1:33.129 + 0.375 4. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne Racing 1:33.220 + 0.466 5. S. Bourdais Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1:33.278 + 0.524 6. Mario Dominguez Pacific Coast 1:33.734 + 0.980 7. Simon Pagenaud Team Australia 1:33.841 + 1.087 8. Alex Tagliani Rocketsports Racing 1:34.167 + 1.413 9. Paul Tracy Forsythe Championship 1:34.174 + 1.420 10. Nelson Philippe Conquest Racing 1:34.362 + 1.608 11. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan 1:34.372 + 1.618 12. Robert Doornbos Minardi Team USA 1:34.602 + 1.848 13. Katherine Legge Dale Coyne Racing 1:34.950 + 2.196 14. Neel Jani PKV Racing 1:35.285 + 2.531 15. Dan Clarke Minardi Team USA 1:35.337 + 2.583 16. Alex Figge Pacific Coast 1:36.580 + 3.826 17. David Martinez Forsythe Championship 1:37.652 + 4.898
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