Scott Dixon led the first practice session for Sunday's Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Navigating the 1.8 mile, 14-turn street circuit in 1:02.3478 (103.933mph) to outpace Tony Kanaan and Dario Franchitti as the field was led by the IndyCar Series most experienced road racers. Team Penske teammates Sam Hornish, Jr., and Helio Castroneves rounded out the top five.

The surprises of the session included Dan Wheldon running just seventh and Darren Mannin's sixth placement with his AJ Foyt Racing machine.

Wheldon went off course in turn ten at the end of the session, missing out on the opportunity to put down a final quick lap like many of his competitors, including Hornish who jumped from tenth to fourth in the waning moments.

For Manning, timing in sixth quick places him into the top half of the field thus he will practice with the “fast group” for the remainder of the weekend - something rarely seen from the Foyt team in recent memory. Celebrating his 50th year in major open wheel racing, the legendary AJ Foyt has stepped up his program this season, spending more money to make multiple trips to the wind tunnel, add new engineering staff, and they even ran an IRL approved private test at Sebring on Tuesday.

Sam Hornish, Jr., is well known as an excellent oval track driver, but is considered weak when faced with right turns. Timing fourth quickest in the opening two hour session this weekend, he is on his way to his third straight appearance in the Fast Six at St. Petersburg. This group is set from the initial single car/single lap qualifying, with the top six drivers then getting to shoot it out for the pole in a ten minute European-style session.

Unfortunately for Hornish, qualifying well has not returned results when the checkered flag waved. In two previous St. Petersburg events, Hornish has finished just 15th and eighth (2005 and 2006). Giving credence to those that believe his skills during the actual races still needs work.

The IndyCar Series cars will take to the track later this afternoon with drivers trying to improve their times so as to be better positioned in the qualifying line.

St. Petersburg Grand Prix IndyCar Series Practice 1

1 Scott Dixon (9) ... 1:02.3478 103.933
2 Tony Kanaan (11) 0.7143 1:03.0621 102.756
3 Dario Franchitti (27) 0.7686 1:03.1164 102.667
4 Sam Hornish Jr (6) 0.7844 1:03.1322 102.642
5 Helio Castroneves (3) 0.8024 1:03.1502 102.613
6 Darren Manning (14) 0.8738 1:03.2216 102.497
7 Dan Wheldon (10) 1.0006 1:03.3484 102.291
8 Marco Andretti (26) 1.2744 1:03.6222 101.851
9 Tomas Scheckter (2) 1.4029 1:03.7507 101.646
10 Vitor Meira (4) 1.4342 1:03.7820 101.596
11 Kosuke Matsuura (55) 1.6336 1:03.9814 101.279
12 Danica Patrick (7) 1.7397 1:04.0875 101.112
13 Jeff Simmons (17) 1.7970 1:04.1448 101.021
14 Scott Sharp (8) 1.8513 1:04.1991 100.936
15 Buddy Rice (15) 2.0851 1:04.4329 100.570
16 Ed Carpenter (20) 2.6760 1:05.0238 99.656
17 A J Foyt IV (22) 3.8876 1:06.2354 97.833
18 Sarah Fisher (5) 4.4399 1:06.7877 97.024.

ORS / CAPSIS International