Moraes Records Impressive Laps In Friday Practice At Long Beach For Kv

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Young Mario Moraes turned in several impressive laps Friday in practice sessions for the 36th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the fourth round of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series.

Moraes, the 21-year-old Brazilian, drove the No. 32 KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone machine to one of only eight times under the 71-second barrier on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit through the streets on the Southern California seaside city. The youngest full-time driver in the series recorded the eighth quickest lap of the day with a time of one minute, 10.964 seconds. Ryan Hunter Reay set the best time Friday with a 1:10.634 clocking.

Following Hunter Reay Friday was Ryan Briscoe, Tony Kanaan, Alex Tagliani, Will Power, Justin Wilson, Dario Franchitti and Moraes.

Moraes qualified 12th last week at Barber Motorsports Park.

Takuma Sato, a Formula One veteran whose a rookie in the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series, posted times in the top-ten for much of the practice in the No. 5 Lotus - KV Racing Technology Honda/Dallara/Firestone car before taking the 13th best time. Sato's top time was 1:11.385 in his first appearance on the famed Long Beach track.

E.J. Viso, who qualified fourth in last year's Long Beach event, suffered through some traffic troubles on Friday afternoon. Viso's top time was 1:11.930 for 17th best in the No. 8 PDVSA—KVRT Honda/Dallara/Firestone.

Qualifying for the Sunday's 85-lap main event is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. (PDT) Saturday with the Firestone Fast Six finale. The Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach will be televised live Sunday on the VERSUS Network beginning at 3:30 p.m.(EDT).

DRIVER QUOTES:

MARIO MORAES, #32 KVRT HONDA/DALLARA/FIRESTONE: "Overall, it was a good day for the #32 KV Racing Technology team. My engineer, Iain Watt, and I have been spending a lot of time together getting to know each other and we have worked very hard to make the car faster. It is great to be back in Long Beach. Unfortunately, last year we did not have the result that we wanted, so I am looking forward to this weekend and having a good finish."

TAKUMA SATO, #5 LOTUS - KVRT HONDA/DALLARA/FIRESTONE: "Long Beach is a special event, but, for me, it is one of the new circuits. So I have to learn the circuit. We struggled with the balance of the car a bit today. So we have a lot of work to do tomorrow."

E.J. VISO, #8 PDVSA – KVRTHONDA/DALLARA/FIRESTONE: "The changes we made from practice 1 to practice 2 we didn't find all of the speed we wanted. But, we had problems with traffic with our second set of tires, so we weren't able to put a lap together. Normally, with your second set of tires, you can improve up to a second a lap. That was a progression I think we were going to achieve. But because of the traffic, we couldn't. We still need to improve the car and find more speed for qualifying."