Wilson Leads First-Day Qualifying At Toyota Grand Prix Of Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Calif., Friday, April 18, 2008 – Justin Wilson led the initial qualifying session for the 34^th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, guaranteeing himself a front row starting position for Sunday’s race. Wilson lapped the 11-turn, 1.97-mile street circuit in 1 minute, 7.356 seconds, 105.184 mph. A second qualifying session to finalize the starting grid is scheduled for Saturday.

Wilson’s fast lap in the No. 02 McDonald’s Racing Team Panoz bettered the 2007 pole speed of Champ Car World Series champion Sebastien Bourdais by 0.190 of a second.

“We felt that the car was good, and I was very pleased with how it was handling,” Wilson said. “We went out and did quite a quick time on the Black tires that still would have been good enough for pole, but we weren't sure what everyone else was doing down the pit lane. We didn't get a good pit selection so we couldn't see, so we decided let's go and see what they're like. We tried the Bridgestone Red tires and they worked great.

“I'm just very pleased to keep up the tradition of the McDonald's car being quickest. Before the qualifying I thought it's a bit of pressure taking over this seat at a track like this where Sebastien (Bourdais) has always gone so well. I'm actually quite relieved to have done as well as we have today, and I think we can relax tomorrow and work and get even quicker.”

KV Racing Technology driver Oriol Servia was second with a best lap of 1:07.858, 104.406 mph. Walker Racing’s Alex Tagliani was third, Pacific Coast Motorsports driver Mario Dominguez was fourth and Wilson’s Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing teammate Graham Rahal was fifth.

The 19-year-old Rahal is coming off a victory two weeks ago on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., where he became the youngest winner of a major open-wheel race.

Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach provisional qualifying results:
Pos, Driver, Team, Time, Gap
1) Justin Wilson, Newman/Haas/Lanigan, 1:07.356
2) Oriol Servia, KV Racing, 1:07.858, + 0.502sec
3) Alex Tagliani, Walker, 1:07.887, + 0.531
4) Mario Dominguez, Pacific Coast, 1:07.998, + 0.642
5) Graham Rahal, Newman/Haas/Lanigan, 1:08.172, + 0.816
6) Enrique Bernoldi, Conquest, 1:08.272, + 0.916
7) Franck Montagny, Forsythe Pettit, 1:08.325, + 0.969
8) Paul Tracy, Forsythe Pettit, 1:08.488, + 1.132
9) Will Power, KV Racing, 1:08.519, + 1.163
10) EJ Viso, HVM, 1:08.532, + 1.176
11) Roberto Moreno, Minardi HVM, 1:08.549, + 1.193
12) Alex Figge, Pacific Coast, 1:08.549, + 1.193
13) Antonio Pizzonia, Rocketsports, 1:08.658, + 1.302
14) Bruno Junqueira, Coyne, 1:08.813, + 1.457
15) Jimmy Vasser, KV Racing, 1:09.066, + 1.710
16) Franck Perera, Conquest, 1:09.153, + 1.797
17) David Martinez, Forsythe Pettit, 1:09.381, + 2.025
18) Mario Moraes, Coyne, 1:09.438, + 2.082
19) Juho Annala, Rocketsports, 1:11.265, + 3.909
20) Nelson Philippe, Minardi HVM, No time