Kanaan easily fastest in first practice

Tony Kanaan led a shortened and delayed IndyCar Series practice session at the Iowa Speedway. Circling the track in 17.5448 (183.439mph), Kanaan bested Helio Castroneves, Sam Hornish, Jr., Darren Manning and Jeff Simmons as the seven-eighths mile oval evened out the field and saw some of the smaller teams running quick times.

Practice was delayed an hour and forty minutes, first by rain, and then by the absence of a medical helicopter. The Med-evac units are required for safety reasons, but the chopper was grounded in Des Moines by fog left over from the morning rain.

Severe thunderstorms pounded the track overnight, but drivers reported no issues with the lack of rubber on the racing surface during the first session.

In an attempt to get back on schedule, IRL officials elected to allow all cars to participate in the just 30-minute long session. They will return to split groups for the day's second session which gives every one another hour of track time.

There were no incidents in the session, which saw considerable two-wide action, as drivers all spent considerable time running in heavy traffic.

Most impressive in slicing through the traffic were Hornish, Castroneves and sixth-quick Vitor Meira. The Brazilian appeared able to put his car anywhere on the track he wanted and continuously moved forward through fast cars throughout the practice.

Darren Manning was struggling to pass cars, but he spent most of the session chasing Hornish, Jr., who was unable to shake the Foyt Racing car from his tail.

IndyCar Series Practice #1:

Pos  Driver                  Diff   Best Time  Best Speed

1    Tony Kanaan (11)         ...   17.5448    183.439
2    Helio Castroneves (3) 0.0796   17.6244    182.610
3    Sam Hornish Jr (6)    0.0994   17.6442    182.406
4    Darren Manning (14)   0.1193   17.6641    182.200
5    Jeff Simmons (17)     0.1245   17.6693    182.146
6    Vitor Meira (4)       0.1331   17.6779    182.058
7    Dan Wheldon (10)      0.1355   17.6803    182.033
8    AJ Foyt IV (22)       0.1415   17.6863    181.971
9    Dario Franchitti (27) 0.1481   17.6929    181.903
10   Tomas Scheckter (2)   0.1487   17.6935    181.897
11   Danica Patrick (7)    0.1500   17.6948    181.884
12   Scott Dixon (9)       0.1649   17.7097    181.731
13   Ed Carpenter (20)     0.1942   17.7390    181.431
14   Kosuke Matsuura (55)  0.2362   17.7810    181.002
15   Scott Sharp (8)       0.2362   17.7810    181.002
16   Buddy Rice (15)       0.2651   17.8099    180.708
17   Marco Andretti (26)   0.2944   17.8392    180.412
18   Sarah Fisher (5)      0.3266   17.8714    180.087
19   Milka Duno (23)       0.8462   18.3910    174.999

ORS / CAPSIS International