Rain affects positive results for Rocketsports Racing on Friday down under source: Rocketsports Racing It did not matter what time of day it was today in Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia, the rain came down periodically and played a major factor in today's on track results during Rocketsports Racing's first day of preparations for Sunday's Lexmark Indy 300 as rookies Michael McDowell and Timo Glock finish the day with an optimistic outlook, but the results did not reign as high. McDowell took his first laps behind the wheel of the #31 Commercial Defeasance/Rocketsports Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone on an official Champ Car race weekend today around the 2.795-mile temporary street course on the streets of Surfers Paradise. Not only did he have to get acquainted with the 12-turn circuit, he had to do it under unlikely conditions - rain. Finishing the morning in the ninth spot, the young American's biggest challenge during the first practice session was braking. He took it easy during that session just trying to learn the course. Rolling out this afternoon, McDowell partook in his first qualifying session. Just prior to the afternoon session, the rain came down hard leaving a very wet and slippery track for the first round of qualifying for Round 12 of the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford. When the green flag waved to commence the official timing of the session, McDowell and teammate Glock headed out early to try and get in a few good laps before the rain started to fall again. Running on rain tires, McDowell tried to get in a good lap, but was unable to do so before the tires were all used up towards the end of the session. Posting his best time of the day of 1:49.870 (91.581 mph, 147.385 kmh) McDowell finished the day in the 13th spot. Towards the end of the session the track was almost completely dry, as McDowell and the rest of 18-car field headed into pit lane to but on slick tires, in hopes of one last run to improve his overall time.
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