St. Pete: GT Friday morning practice notes

LIDDELL LEADS OPENING SPEED GT PRACTICE AT ST. PETE ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (April 1, 2005) -- Scotland's Robin Liddell paced the opening practice session for Sunday's SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Round Two race, part of ...

LIDDELL LEADS OPENING SPEED GT PRACTICE AT ST. PETE

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (April 1, 2005) -- Scotland's Robin Liddell paced the opening practice session for Sunday's SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Round Two race, part of the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Driving the No. 66 AXA Financial Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, Liddell turned a fastest lap of 1:20.993 (80.007 mph) around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile circuit. His best time was a scant 0.036-second quicker than fellow Porsche driver Wolf Henzler (No. 55 Applied Materials/Jongbloed Racing Wheels), who turned a 1:21.029 (79.971 mph) in the 35-minute session's final moments.

Sebring Round One race winner Tommy Archer was third in the No. 1 c3controls/3R-Racing Dodge Viper, turning a fastest time of 1:21.447 (79.561 mph). The Team Cadillac duo of Andy Pilgrim and Max Papis turned in the fourth and fifth fastest times in their XM/Mobil 1/Motorola/Bose/On Star Cadillac CTS-Vs.

Papis had the distinction of being the first car on the course for the event, which is under new management for 2005. The street/airport circuit was previously used in 2003, and featured an entirely different group of racing series.

Practice resumes for the SCCA SPEED GT Championship Friday afternoon at 4:15 p.m. (Eastern). To follow the session via Live Timing & Scoring and for more information regarding the event, please visit www.world-challenge.com.