Andretti Fast in Practice; deFerran takes ALMS Pole

Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan were 1&2 in practice for tomorrow's IndyCar "knockout" qualifying session. Typical summer heat here at Lexington, OH...Kanaan says the seeds for running well when it's hot are planted in the off season...Kanaan, who lives in Miami, says training in the heat pays benefits on days like this. Marco, as one might expect, thinks the more seat time the better...but won't double up this weekend in the ALMS Andretti-Green Acura...he says he wants to stay sharp for the Indy Car race...and that two road course races in a weekend would take a lot out of a driver. Oval races, says Andretti, are a bit easier on the driver.

There's no racing rust for Gil deFerran (picture, right)...the ex-sporting director for Honda's F1 effort...past CART champion and Indianapolis 500 winner sits on the overall pole for the American LeMans Series here at Mid-Ohio. This was Gil's first pole in 3 ALMS events. LMP2 Acuras sit on the front row...David Brabham from last week's race winning Highcroft Patron racing team is second fastest...the Penske Porsche driven by Timo Bernhard starts 3rd...and in LMP1...Marco Werner (picture, left) and the Audi R10 diesel starts 4th overall.

Gil says the challenge of getting that Acura to go faster is a challenge which seems to bring out the best in his team. He's always been kind of an analytical driver. In a series that allows more technical innovation, analysis is a good thing.

We'll rejoin you with IndyCar qualifying tomorrow...plus a drag racing take on shortening the track for the nitro Top Fuel and Funny Car cars.

"Roar by the Shore"--Day 1 at the Champ Car Long Beach GP/33rd edition

In 1975, an expatriate British travel agent named Christopher Robin Pook had a blue sky idea: Why not have a street automobile race, similar to that in Monte Carlo, Monaco, in the streets of Long Beach, California? Thirty-three years later...the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach is the signature event for the Champ Car World Series. This year, the Champ Cars are joined by the prototypes and GT cars of the American LeMans Series (whom we last saw a couple of weeks ago at St. Petersburg, FL).

The downtown of Long Beach was somewhat seedy when we covered our first LBGP in 1979...today, the city has upscale hotels, light rail transit, upscale nightspots and eateries...simply because a group of people had a vision about what could be, and acted to make that vision reality--which put Long Beach on developer's radar.

We'll show you some snapshots throughout the weekend.

Posted at 2:24 pm local time

Top (left to right)Dario Franchitti of Andretti Green Racing, after winning the pole for the American LeMans Series race in an Acura LMP2 prototype, just a tick under 100 miles an hour; Right, Rinaldo (Dindo) Cappello in the Audi LMP1 R10 diesel, a scant second slower--98 & change for the speed.

Center--Rookie Simon Pagenaud (3rd), 1st day pole sitter Will Power (lap of 104.311 miles an hour) and three-time and defending Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais (104.234 miles an hour). Power will start no worse than second, no matter what happens tomorrow in final Champ Car Qualifying.

More to come tomorrow, especially pictures.

Posted at 4:21 pm/6:10 local time

Pictures from the Pit & Paddock at St. Petersburg's Honda Indy Grand Prix and Acura Sports Car Challenge

Top--The Andretti-Green Racing Acura ARX-01a (LeMans Prototype 2 winner at Sebring) driven by Bryan Herta, and Marino Franchitti (Dario's brother). The car will start 5th in Saturday's American LeMans Series street debut for 2007. Penske Racing's Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard start their Porsche RS Spyder on the pole (102.794 miles per hour).

Middle--The Audi R10 TDi diesel (LeMans Prototype 1 winner at Sebring), driven by Rinaldo Capello, Alan McNish and the ace of LeMans (24 Hours), 4 time winner Tom Kristensen. The car will start 3rd overall (102.184 miles per hour). McNish qualified the car, but crashed during qualifying.

Bottom--Tony Kanaan's 7-11 Dallara Honda after the first practice session.

IndyCar Top 2 in Combined Qualifying--Helio Castroneves and Tony Kanaan were 1-2. The 2 time Indy 500 winner clocked in with a 105.192 mile per hour lap; Kanaan a tick slower at 105.043 mph.

That's it for Friday; Saturday is pole day for the IndyCars and race day for the American Le Mans cars.

Paul Kaminski

3/30/2007