It was not unexpected that the drivers with road racing backgrounds would be
the hot-shoes on the first day of practice for NASCAR Busch Series inaugural
race on the famous 2.709-mile Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec,
Canada.
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NASCAR Busch Series cars line up to take the track. Photo by Eric Gilbert.
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Thursday opened the event with the Busch teams and drivers taking the
first green flag at 9:00am and three hours later, the history-making
first practice had ended with local hero Patrick Carpentier setting the
fastest lap at 1:43.898 (93.865mph). The former CART racer banked on his
past experience at the venue and yet, at the same time, getting use to
handling a stockcar on the same venue where Formula One cars hit very
fast speeds at the Canadian Grand Prix.
"What amazes me is the power, the acceleration for a car that heavy. You're
coming down the straightaway down the back and it keeps going, it keeps
accelerating. It reminds me of the CART era, of that time, when we had a lot
of power," Carpentier said. "I can only imagine a Nextel Cup car, which even
has more power than this one."
Second fastest was Scott Pruett and like Carpentier has raced on the
2.709-mile circuit in the past. Pruett, racing for Chip Ganassi Racing,
hit a best lap of 1:44.091 (93.691mph). The top two in practice one are
pulling double-duty this weekend in Montreal as the Grand American Rolex
Series makes its debut on the circuit this weekend as well.
Boris Said was clocked at 1:44.338 (93.469mph), giving Dodge a sweep of
the top three. Fourth belonged to Ron Fellows with a time of 1:44.341
(93.467mph), 0.443-seconds off the pace set by Carpentier. Like Said,
the Canadian Chevrolet driver has been tagged multiple times for the
NASCAR road courses.
NASCAR Nextel Cup Series regular driver who is bouncing between Montreal
and Pocono this weekend, Robby Gordon has an extensive background in
road racing and placed his Ford fifth in the first practice with a time
of 1:44.676 (93.168mph).
Sixth and top rookie on the circuit was Australian Marcos Ambrose --
his days of racing in the Australian V8 Super Series on road and street
circuits came in handy -- his best lap was 1:44.816 (93.043mph) in his
Ford.
"The track is good; it's a lot of fun. It's got some high speed parts
but really technical as well and all the change of directions. We're
really pumped to be here," Ambrose said. "It's a great track. You don't
often get a chance to run a track like this too often. It's only open
once or twice a year, so this is pretty special."
Rounding out the first practice top-10 were Michael Valiante (Dodge),
Andy Lally (Ford), Steve Wallace (Dodge) and Max Papis (Chevrolet). Both
Ambrose and Wallace are full-time contenders in the Busch series and
Wallace was the top of the "pure" oval drivers.
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Ron Fellows. Photo by Eric Gilbert.
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Second practice started at 1:30pm and ended at 4:00pm -- another long
session to allow all to learn the track and to make set-up changes
before tomorrow's qualifying.
Once again, it was a road racer and Canadian on top of the speed
charts, this time Fellows hit the fastest speed with a time of 1:43.198
(94.502mph) as the field gained time on lessons learned earlier.
"It's a bit tricky. Certainly, with these big cars, having to slow down as
often as we do at high-speed, it's going to be a tough one on Saturday,
trying to maintain some relative cool on the brakes," said Fellows.
Off-road, road racer, stockcar driver Gordon was second with a best lap
at 1:43.392 (94.325mph) followed again by Ambrose who clocked a time at
1:43.424 (94.306mph).
"Well, for me it's pretty good. We're happy with that. Obviously Ron
(Fellows) was a bit quicker," commented Gordon who added, "I've raced
with Ron forever. We raced in Trans-Am a couple of times together, GTO
stuff, obviously Busch and NASCAR. I know his ability and he'll keep us
honest this weekend."
Pruett ended fourth with his best lap of 1:43.424 (94.295mph) with
Carpentier turning his best time at 1:43.424 (94.295mph). Papis moved
from 10th to sixth by the end of the day with a time of 1:43.949
(93.819mph).
Lally in the newly entered TRG Ford team was clocked at 1:43.963
(93.806mph) for seventh fastest during the second practice. And then
came Carl Edwards - the driver who does the famous back-flips and current
Busch series points leader laid down his best lap of the day at 1:44.450
(93.369mph) in his Ford-powered stockcar.
"I love road courses, I just like racing. I like driving cars, to me,
they're all fun," commented Edwards prior to the first wheel turning
today. "It's extremely fun to come somewhere new to see a different
culture and be in a new city and race on a new race track. That's fun."
Valiante and Said closed out the top-10 in today's final practice.
The Canadian from Vancouver, Valiante, hit his best lap at 1:44.481
(93.341mph) while Said clocked a lap at 1:44.632 (93.207mph).
On Friday, the drivers have two additional practice sessions with the
first one seeing the green flag at 11:30am (EDT) for 60 minutes of
activity, followed later at 2:05pm for the final practice. Qualifying
will be held on Saturday at 12:10pm and once the grid is set, the cars
will be held in impound prior to the race start at 3:30pm.
