TEARM REPORTS (BRNO) - A1 TEAM USA's Rice 21st in practice

A1 TEAM USA's Buddy Rice was 21st on the timing sheets Friday in practice at Brno for the second A1GP World Cup of Motorsport event of the season.

Rice ran 18 laps in the one-hour session with a best of 1:49.148 on the 3.36-mile track, which had had never seen prior to this weekend.

"We have another hour of practice before qualifying Saturday and I'm optimistic we can find more speed and put ourselves in good position on the grid," Rice said. "We have learned a great deal today. We know new tires are worth as much as two seconds, but they only last one lap, and we need to have the 'We The People' car set up for that lap."

Charlie Kimball was ninth quickest in the combined two all-rookie practices in his first race weekend drive for A1 TEAM USA. The 22-year-old from Camarillo, Calif., was 10th at 1:49.742 and completed 12 laps in the initial 25-minute session and was fifth at 1:49.520 and ran 12 laps in the second session.

Kimball also never driven previously at Brno.

"I had a blast this morning in the rookie session, " Kimball said. "The circuit was very dirty and cold to start with and I was bedding a set of brake pads for Buddy to use over the weekend. Then I got a chance to get up to speed, make some changes to the 'We the People' car and set a competitive lap before the session was over.

"I was pleased with my lap as it was on my final attempt at a time and on tires that were at the end of their life. It put me fifth overall in the session and within half a second on the top time. For not knowing the track, I was pleased to be that quick. As a track, it has a lot of different corners, slow speed corners, high speed corners as well as combination corners."

A1 TEAM USA owner Rick Weidinger believes Rice and the team can make a jump forward in practice and qualifying Saturday.

"We should be able to take what we've learned today and, hopefully, Buddy will find additional quickness in the Saturday morning practice and we will be in good shape for qualifying," Weidinger said. "I'm happy that Charlie had his first run in the A1GP rookie sessions and thank him for his input."

For more information on A1 TEAM USA, visit www.A1TEAMUSATV.com. For more information on A1GP, visit www.A1GP.com.