Edmonton: Wilson tops practice 3

Returning to the site of his last Champ Car victory, it was no surprise to see Justin Wilson at the top of the timesheet at the end of the final practice session before the second round of qualifying this afternoon. The driver of the CDW racing machine recorded a top lap of 58.931 (120.527 mph).

Lining up behind the 2006 Rexall Grand Prix of Edmonton Champion was Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing teammates Sebastien Bourdais and Graham Rahal. Yesterday Bourdais captured the provisional pole in his McDonald's car, but today he will have to contend with his teammate Rahal who is hoping to improve where his Medi|Zone car will start for Sunday's main event. Team Australia driver Will Power lined up in fourth while Forsythe Championship Racing's Paul Tracy had to settle for fifth in his Indeck car.

The session saw the red flag fly early and often with a total of four being flown. The first was unfurled when three separate incidents on the track happened simultaneously. British drivers Justin Wilson and Dan Clarke spun and stalled in Turns 2 and 9, while Alex Tagliani slid into the tire barrier in Turn 12. The incident would end the Canadian's session. The second flag was flown for a solo spin by Sebastien Bourdais who lost control and drove across the grass coming to a stop in Turn 4. Will Power was the victim of the third caution when his Aussie Vineyards race machine lost its headrest going into Turn 1 and the scarlet banner was flown to retrieve it. The final red flew when Katherine Legge made heavy contact in her Dale Coyne Racing car between Turns 10 and 11. Her incident would end the session as the time needed to make repairs to the wall was longer than the time remaining in the session. Legge was uninjured.

Tristan Gommendy returned from yesterday's accident during qualifying to post the fifteenth best time of the session.

Pos Driver Time Behind
1 J. Wilson 58.931
2 S. Bourdais 59.214 0.283
3 G. Rahal 59.331 0.400
4 W. Power 59.356 0.425
5 P. Tracy 59.362 0.431
6 S. Pagenaud 59.436 0.505
7 N. Jani 59.576 0.645
8 J. Heylen 59.849 0.918
9 R. Doornbos 59.881 0.950
10 B. Junqueira 59.925 0.994
11 O. Servia 59.941 1.010
12 R. Dalziel 1:00.074 1.143
13 D. Clarke 1:00.077 1.146
14 K. Legge 1:00.343 1.412
15 T. Gommendy 1:00.352 1.421
16 A. Figge 1:01.444 2.513
17 A. Tagliani 1:02.279 3.348