Sears Point: Saturday practice report

Pruett again atop Infineon speed charts

SONOMA, Calif. -- Scott Pruett continued his assault on Infineon Raceway's speed charts, as he recorded the fastest time in Saturday's second-round practice for Sunday's Trans-Am 100, Round 5 of the Trans-Am Series for the BFGoodrich® Tires Cup championship. Pruett, driver of the No. 7 Jaguar R Performance XKR, toured the 1.949-mile road course in one minute, and 13.690 seconds at an average speed of 97.218 miles per hour. Pruett was also quickest in first-round practice Friday.

Tomy Drissi (No. 5 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen Jaguar XKR) was second fastest, ahead of Boris Said (No. 33 ACS/GE Access/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang), Johnny Miller (No. 64 Eaton Cutler-Hammer Jaguar XKR) and Michael Lewis (No. 12 Westward Tools/The Crank Jaguar XKR).

"The car is just awesome," said Pruett, who is also competing in Sunday's NASCAR Winston Cup Series race here. "We picked up where we left off yesterday, and should fast in qualifying. The car was great coming off the truck, and we've made only minor changes thus far.

"We worked on race setup yesterday, and qualifying setup today. We should be right there later today."

Drissi was ecstatic about being second quickest here. Drissi recorded a one-minute, 14.537-second lap at 96.113 mph. "We are seven tenths faster than yesterday," said Drissi. "We ran fairly new tires--they had 30 miles on them or so--and we worked on making it a good race car. At this track, the end of the race is everything, so we wanted to make sure that we'll have a car at the end Sunday."

Said, who won the pole for Sunday's Winston Cup race Friday, said he'll be ready to go for Sunday's race, which is scheduled to start at 4:30 p.m., following the NASCAR run. Said's fast lap time was one minute, 14.754 seconds at 95.834 mph.

Qualifying for the Trans-Am 100 is scheduled to start at 2:30 p.m. today, following the Southwest Tour race.

Notebook:
Because of their multiple responsibilities this weekend and the distance between the NASCAR and Trans-Am Series pits, logistics are key for Scott Pruett, Boris Said, and Johnny Miller. Today's session followed second-round Winston Cup practice, in which all three Trans-Am Series regulars drove. A host of vehicles, including a tow truck and the Trans-Am Series Jaguar X-Type Safety Car helped ferry the three from the frontstrech to the Trans-Am Series paddock. All made it just in time for Trans-Am Series practice.

Said is doing triple duty this weekend--racing in the Southwest Tour, Winston Cup and Trans-Am Series races, while Pruett and Miller are doubling up, running the Winston Cup and Trans-Am Series events. All turned in respectable times during second-round Winston Cup practice. Said was eighth fastest, just behind Pruett. Miller was 30th quick. Meanwhile, 2000 Trans-Am Series Drivers' Champion, who is standing by as relief driver for Bill Elliott, turned his first laps this weekend in a Winston Cup car.