Friday, April 18, 2008
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach - Streets of Long Beach, Calif.
Series Finale - Champ Car World Series

McDONALD'S® DRIVER WILSON ON PROVISIONAL POLE FOR THE TOYOTA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH; HOLE IN THE WALL CAMPS DRIVER RAHAL FIFTH

1st: Justin Wilson 1:07.356 / 105.184 mph
5th: Graham Rahal 1:08.172 / 103.925 mph



Justin Wilson, No. 02 McDonald’s Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: “We felt that the McDonald’s car was good, and I was very pleased with how it was handling. But we went out and did quite a quick time on the Bridgestone (standard) 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. I feel I had a lot left and I made a few mistakes, but generally pretty happy with how things are going. It's fun to do one last race here at Long Beach.”

FAST FACTS: Will be his fifth race here and first in the McDonald’s Champ Car for NHLR. He made his Champ Car debut at this track in 2004 and started 11th and finished sixth. He started fifth in 2005 and finished fourth. He earned his highest start and finish in 2006 of second place. In 2007 he started seventh and finished fourth…So far in 2008 he qualified 17th but started 15th in the IndyCar Series season-opener in Homestead due to two cars having their qualifying speeds disallowed. Dropped one lap down when he was hit by Will Power on a restart after approx. 22 laps and had to pit to replace a deflated tire but rallied to finish 15th…Started third in his street course ICS debut in St. Pete but alternate fuel and tire strategies dictated by intermittent rain led to a ninth place finish after he led a total of 18 of 83 laps…He is ranked 15th in the point standings with 37 points…Finished runner up in the Champ Car championship to the driver he recently replaced, four-time champion Sebastien Bourdais, in 2006 and 2007. Was a championship contender until the conclusion of the penultimate race of each season. He also finished third to NHR drivers Bourdais and Oriol Servia in 2005.



Graham Rahal, No. 06 Hole in the Wall Camps Cosworth/DP01/Bridgestone: "The car was definitely much better this afternoon but I still think there is a little ways to go to making it better. Certainly we could have been quicker but with the incident with Will Power, it kind of ruined the tires. Plus we didn’t run the Bridgestone alternate tires. Realistically if you compare apples to apples, we’re only a tenth-and-one half off of Justin’s best time on the blacks (standard Bridgestone tires). We didn’t think we had a realistic shot at pole so we decided it was best for us to run blacks and save a couple of sets of alternate tires to run tomorrow. It’s nice to get back in the Champ Car. When I first got in I had to refresh my memory about a lot of the things I would take from the IndyCar Series car and vice versa. I obviously like the power and speed of these cars but there is something from each that would go into my ideal open wheel car.”

FAST FACTS: Will be his second Champ Car race here and first event since becoming the youngest winner in major open-wheel racing in North America after winning in St. Pete on 4-6-08 at 19 years, 93 days old. Started fifth here last year but the pit strategy of others and slow fuel flow on one stop limited his finish to eighth place. He made one start in the Champ Car Atlantic Series here where he started seventh and finished fifth.



TEAM HAS 6 WINS, 14 PODIUMS & 10 POLES IN LONG BEACH: NHR/NHLR has SIX WINS, 14 PODIUMS and 10 POLES here. (WINS by Bourdais 2005-2007 & Mario Andretti 1987, 1985, 1984; 2nd place finishes by Junqueira 2004, Cristiano da Matta 2001, Nigel Mansell 1994, Michael Andretti 1989; 3rd place finishes by Junqueira 2005 & 2003, Bourdais 2004, Mansell 1993.) (POLES by Bourdais 2006-2007, Junqueira 2004, Mi. Andretti 1995, Mansell 1993, Mi. Andretti 1992, Mi. Andretti 1991, Ma. Andretti 1987, Ma. Andretti 1985, and Ma. Andretti 1984.)



The morning practice session will take place from 10:15-11:25 AM PT while final qualifying will take place from 2:00-3:00 PM.