The opening day of on track action at the Taylor Woodrow Grand Prix of San Jose was disrupted somewhat as event organisers were forced to make several alterations to both the course itself and some of the surrounding barriers.
source: crash.net The net result was that the first qualifying session of the weekend was cancelled with the grid for Sunday's race now set to be decided in a single qualifying session on Saturday afternoon. With the 1.4-mile street course already marking itself out as one of the more bumpy and tight street circuits on the Champ Car World Series schedule, Friday morning began with track workers still adding and moving safety barriers and fencing. Once cars actually got on track, concerns were soon aroused by the positioning of the first, flat out chicane, the pit exit and the lack of run-off at the following hairpin Event organisers tried to alleviate the problem by slowing the chicane, which has a set of railroad lines across the middle of the turn, but that in turn created a problem with the exit of pit road, which had became perilously close to the turn-in point for the first corner. "I mean, the first time when I looked at it, I never crossed a railway with a Champ Car," commented defending series Champion Sebastien Bourdais, who ended Friday's two afternoon practice sessions with the fastest time of the day. "It's not bad. Every time I'm in the air, especially at the Marriott hotel, the bumps are pretty high. After a couple of laps, you're feeling as you're driving in a shaker. It's unreal."
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