Dario Franchitti topped Friday morning practice for the IndyCar Series' Long Beach debut.

The Scotsman and his Target/Chip Ganassi Racing team are making their first appearance at the legendary California street track since 2002, as Long Beach has been added to the unified IndyCar schedule this year after hosting the Champ Car finale last season.

Franchitti's time of 1m11.1915s gave him a clear 0.3-second margin over St Petersburg winner Ryan Briscoe (Penske) in second place.

Mario Moraes took a surprise third for KV Racing, which announced this afternoon that it will add Paul Tracy to its lineup for at least the Indianapolis 500.

Will Power took fourth in the second Penske car, but the main news for Roger Penske's team was that while practice was under way, Helio Castroneves was acquitted of tax evasion charges, and had a mistrial declared in the conspiracy charges against him, at his trial in Miami (click here for story). The Brazilian will reclaim his seat from Power starting Saturday, with Power switching to a third, No. 12 entry for this race and Indianapolis.

Newman/Haas/Lanigan duo Graham Rahal and Robert Doornbos completed the top six, Doornbos having been comfortably fastest in the initial half-hour session for rookies and drivers outside the top ten in the championship.

Reigning champion Scott Dixon was seventh for Ganassi, with Mike Conway impressing for Dreyer & Reinbold again in ninth – although Luczo Dragon's Raphael Matos was the top rookie this time, one place ahead.

Andretti Green had a disappointing session, with Tony Kanaan - the best of its drivers – having a spin on the way to 11th ahead of St Pete heroes Ryan Hunter-Reay (Vision) and Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne Racing)

Alex Tagliani and Darren Manning have managed to extend their respective one-race deals with Conquest and Dreyer & Reinbold to encompass Long Beach as well, and were 17th and 18th fastest.
Pos  Driver            Team                 Time

 1.  Dario Franchitti  Ganassi              1m11.1915s

 2.  Ryan Briscoe      Penske               1m11.5385s  + 0.3470s

 3.  Mario Moraes      KV                   1m11.6395s  + 0.4480s

 4.  Will Power        Penske               1m11.6512s  + 0.4597s

 5.  Graham Rahal      Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1m11.6777s  + 0.4862s

 6.  Robert Doornbos   Newman/Haas/Lanigan  1m11.9263s  + 0.7348s

 7.  Scott Dixon       Ganassi              1m11.9562s  + 0.7647s

 8.  Raphael Matos     Luczo Dragon         1m12.023s   + 0.8318s

 9.  Mike Conway       Dreyer & Reinbold    1m12.0611s  + 0.8696s

10.  EJ Viso           HVM                  1m12.1371s  + 0.9456s

11.  Tony Kanaan       Andretti Green       1m12.3380s  + 1.1465s

12.  Ryan Hunter-Reay  Vision               1m12.3799s  + 1.1884s

13.  Justin Wilson     Dale Coyne           1m12.5172s  + 1.3257s

14.  Marco Andretti    Andretti Green       1m12.6952s  + 1.5037s

15.  Hideki Mutoh      Andretti Green       1m12.7809s  + 1.5894s

16.  Dan Wheldon       Panther              1m12.8060s  + 1.6145s

17.  Alex Tagliani     Conquest             1m13.3121s  + 2.1206s

18.  Darren Manning    Dreyer & Reinbold    1m13.4413s  + 2.2498s

19.  Vitor Meira       Foyt                 1m13.5154s  + 2.3239s

20.  Danica Patrick    Andretti Green       1m13.8488s  + 2.6573s

21.  Ed Carpenter      Vision               1m13.8651s  + 2.6736s

22.  Stanton Barrett   3G                   1m14.1921s  + 3.0006s