FAZZT Race Team Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen Friday Practice Report

Tagliani Friday Practice Results

Tagliani Position:           21st    
Tagliani Best Time & Speed:  1 m 34.2046 s - Average speed of 207.257 km/h


Fastest Three Drivers In Friday Practice At The Glen

1st Ryan Briscoe Power, Team Penske;  1 m 31.4142 s (213.582 km/h)
2nd Helio Castroneves, Team Penske;   1 m 31.4974 s (213.389 km/h)
3rd Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing; 1 m 31.6781 s (212.969 km/h)

Watkins Glen - Making his first-ever start at Watkins Glen International, Canadian driver Alex Tagliani finished 21st in the only practice session held Friday on the 5.472-kilometer scenic road course located in upstate New York. The FAZZT Race Team driver posted his best time on lap 12 of his 13 circuits stopping the clock at 1 minute 34.2046 seconds for an average speed of 207.257 km/h.

Making his first-ever start at Watkins Glen International, Canadian driver Alex Tagliani finished 21st in the only practice session held Friday on the 5.472-kilometer scenic road course located in upstate New York. Credit: Jeff Darks/FAZZT Race Team

"I don't want to judge today's results as we will do much better tomorrow," said Tagliani. "We were trying new things on the car and getting laps around the track for me to get to know it and to get an idea of what I want. There were very few laps to get used to the track and to see what the car liked but that is okay. We gathered some good data to look at tonight. The team made a couple of modifications to the car today but some didn't work. Another big thing for me is getting into a rhythm around the track and getting used to the track. Tomorrow (Saturday) should do much better and we will attack with confidence. It's always good to sleep on it to start afresh tomorrow. It was a shame the weather kept us from testing here earlier in the year, as that made today our test day but that's ok, we can manage to recover. We'll have a much better day tomorrow for sure."

Team Penske dominated the day taking the top two spots of the first practice session. Australian Ryan Briscoe was quickest of the 25 drivers registered for the sixth edition of the Camping World Grand Prix at the Glen with a lap time of 1 m 31.4142 s for an average speed of 213.582 km/h. He edged his teammate Helio Castroneves by on eighth hundredths of a second. The Brazilian was clocked at 1 m 31.6781 s (212.969 km/h). Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon posted the third time of the day on his final lap with a time of 1 m 31.6781 s (212.969 km/h). The IZOD IndyCar Series resumes action on Saturday morning with the second and final practice session, followed by qualifying scheduled to start a 1:15 p.m., ET. Round 9 of the 2010 schedule, a 60-lap, 328.32-kilometer event, will be broadcasted live Sunday on TSN and ABC at 3:30 p.m.

"Unfortunately we came up here to test a few weeks ago and the weather prevented that from happening so this afternoon was spent more like a test session for us. It was the first time around this track for Alex, his first time here in an IndyCar, or any race car for that matter, so today was our test day to get a baseline and for Alex to get a baseline on the track. We tried quite a few things so we'll go back and look at the data tonight and get ready for tomorrow."

Justin Wilson is the 2009 Watkins Glen defending race winner. Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon won the first three races at the Glen (2005-2006-2007), while Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay won the 2008 contest.

With his win at Iowa Speedway Brazilian Tony Kanaan became the seventh different winner in the first eight races of the 2010 season and gave Andretti Autosport a much needed second win for the season. Ryan Briscoe won at Texas Motor Speedway while Dario Franchitti, who won the Indy 500, and Scott Dixon, the winner at Kansas, were the other three oval race winners this year. Ryan Hunter-Reay won round 4 at the Long Beach Grand Prix, and Helio Castroneves was victorious in the previous round at Barber Motorsport Park in Alabama. Will Power is the only two-time winner with back-to-back victories at St. Petersburg and at the season opener in São Paulo.

Team Penske driver Will Power returned to the top of the overall standings following the Iowa race ahead of two of Chip Ganassi Racing drivers. With 274 points, Power leads Scott Dixon by 11 points while previous championship leader Dario Franchitti has fallen to third place with 260 points. Tagliani is currently in 13th place in the standings with 156 points.

Live Timing and Scoring as well as Video coverage of all practice sessions as well as qualifying and the race are available at www.indycar.com.

July 3 & 4, 2010 Schedule

Saturday Practice:    9:05 - 10:05 a.m. ET
Saturday Qualifying:  1:15 -  2:45 p.m. ET
Sunday Warm-Up:      10:15 - 10:45 a.m. ET

Sunday Race: 60 laps for 328.32-km with the green flag at 3:30 p.m. ET

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