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HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Some people in CART call Morris Nunn a wizard.
The one-time Formula One team owner had the magic touch the last three years as he used his engineering skills to help Alex Zanardi to two series championships and Juan Montoya to another last season.
"Morris has a lot of gray hair and he knows a lot about racing," said Tony Kanaan, the man Nunn chose as his driver when he started his own team from scratch three months ago.
Whether it was Nunn's experience or Kanaan's skill, the team's Reynard-Mercedes was somewhat surprisingly the fastest car on the track Friday, the first day of practice for the season-opening Marlboro Grand Prix of Miami at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
The former rookie of the year turned a fast lap of 204.532 mph on the 1.5-mile oval. He drove his backup after his primary car was damaged in a crash on pit road during the first of two practices.
"That was scary. I was sitting in the car and heard a car screeching up from behind," said Kanaan, whose car was in its pit when rookie Alex Tagliani lost control driving onto pit road and spun into the stationary Reynard and the car of Luiz Garcia Jr., sitting alongside.
Kanaan laughed and said: "He broke my car, he broke my mechanic
and he broke my heart."
The Brazilian driver was able to joke about the incident because two crewmen and a photographer hit in the accident were not badly injured. Kenny Ferris, Kanaan's mechanic, and photographer Greg Cacali were taken to a nearby hospital for precautionary X-rays and later released. Antonio Pio, a crewmen for Garcia's Arciero Project Racing Group car, was treated and released at the track medical facility.
Tagliani said he spun when his rear brakes locked as he slowed
to 69 mph.
"It was a problem with the brake bias," Tagliani said. "I'm
just thankful that nobody was hurt badly."
Kanaan said, "Kenny was kneeling down to the right of me,
cleaning off my radiator, so I was very concerned for him. But he's
OK."
That cost Nunn's team most of the first session, but the new
outfit made the most of the afternoon run.
"We were expecting to be in the top 10 based on the way we've
been testing," said Nunn, who has been the chief engineer for
Target/Chip Ganassi Racing the last three seasons. "But I can't
say we expected to be first at the end of the first day.
"One reason we can feel special about today is that we are a
brand new team and it was our very first day, and this is the one
and only chance we'll have to leave that first impression."
But Nunn warned that it's too soon to start getting complacent.
"We have two more days and everybody is going to turn it up a
notch for qualifying and for Sunday's race," he said.
Christian Fittipaldi's Lola-Ford was second quickest for the day
at 203.753, followed by the Reynard-Ford of Patrick Carpentier at
203.355, the Reynard-Honda of Helio Castro-Neves at 203.171 and the
Lola-Ford of Michael Andretti, Fittipaldi's teammate, at 203.118.
Defending series champion Montoya was ninth at 202.002 in a Lola
powered by a Toyota engine. The Ganassi team switched over the
winter from the Honda engines that it had run in winning an
unprecedented four straight championships.
"For the first race of the season, I'm very pleased with where
we are," Montoya said. "The Toyota engine was good and we still
have a long way to go to be where we want with the whole package.
I'm very confident we'll be competitive."
Friday was the first time Dario Franchitti drove on the
Homestead oval since he broke his pelvis and hit his head here on
Feb. 9 in a crash during testing.
The Scottish driver was 19th-fastest at 197.350.
"After five weeks of physical therapy, my injuries are the
least of my worries," Franchitti said. "My upper body is stronger
than ever and I feel fine physically in the car.
"But the way the car is handling right now, I'm just not sure
what to do. There's just no grip at all. Good thing today wasn't
qualifying and we have another day to get the balance right."
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ALSO SEE
From second to Nunn, to starting over
It wasn't broke, but Ganassi still tinkers with success
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Alex Tagliani's car slam into the pits during CART practice for the Miami Grand Prix.
avi: 1950 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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