Rookie Kenny Brack of Team Rahal made amemorable debut at the Twin Ring Motegi motorsports complex Thursday when heposted the fastest speed on the opening day of practice for the FirestoneFirehawk 500.

In preparation for his fourth career FedEx Championship Series start inSaturday's 500-kilometer event, Brack (Shell Ford Reynard) posted a top lapof 213.885 miles per hour (26.072 seconds) on the 1.549-mile oval late inthe afternoon practice session. Another practice session begins 9:45 a.m.local time Friday (8:45 p.m. ET Thursday), with qualifying scheduled tobegin 1:15 p.m. local time (12:15 a.m. ET Friday).

Brack will be chasing the first pole of his FedEx Championship Series careerwhen qualifying begins. His best start to date is fourth at Rio de Janeirotwo weeks ago.

Target/Chip Ganassi driver Juan Montoya (Target Toyota Lola), the defendingFedEx Championship Series champion and 1999 CART All-Star, led a Toyotacharge by recording the second-fastest lap at 213.721mph (26.092 seconds).He has started on the front row in two of three events to date, in additionto claiming the pole for the weather-delayed Bosch Spark Plug Grand PrixPresented by Toyota at Nazareth Speedway, rescheduled for May 27.

Jimmy Vasser (Target Toyota Lola), Montoya's teammate at Target/Chip GanassiRacing, was third with a lap of 213.328 mph (26.140 seconds). He is lookingto better a season-best start of second at Long Beach.

Rounding out the top five drivers were Cristiano da Matta (Pioneer/MCIWorldCom Toyota Reynard) of PPI Motorsports, fourth at 212.030 mph (26.300seconds), and Christian Fittipaldi (Big Kmart/Route 66 Ford Lola) ofNewman/Haas Racing, fifth at 211.990 (26.305 seconds). Twenty-four of 33cars (including secondary cars) posted lap times that were within a second.

WHAT THEY'RE SAYING

KENNY BRACK, Shell Ford Reynard: "It's a fantastic facility, and the trackis fun, too. We're working away at it, trying to go faster and faster, andtrying to have a good day tomorrow, too. It's the first day of practice andthings change over the weekend. The most important thing is to be on topduring the last lap of the weekend, but if there's a list. It's good to beon top."

JUAN MONTOYA, Target Toyota Lola: "I think everything started pretty well.This afternoon we had a problem with the oil seal; I couldn't even hold itflat through [Turns] 1 and 2. So we pulled it in and went back to working onthe other car. I was only able to run for four minutes and I went 26.3, 26.1and 26.0, so that's pretty good. It was a long day, but it was good. It wasthe first time all year we've had a problem in practice. So, hopefully, weget it out of the way before the race."

JIMMY VASSER, Target Toyota Lola: "Things are going pretty good. We had aproblem this afternoon, and we didn't really get started until the lastgreen [flag period]. Toyota's been doing a lot of work, every time out itgets a little better and a little better, so hat's off to them. The chassisis working well and I think we're in good position for the weekend. We'vegot a lot of friends at Honda, no question about it. But as much as we likethem, we're gonna work really hard to disappoint them as much we can thisweekend."

WHAT'S NOTEWORTHY

* Kenny Brack (Shell Ford Reynard) will be seeking Team Rahal's firstpole position since Bryan Herta won the pole at Laguna Seca last year, goingonto victory in the race. Team Rahal's last pole on an oval came from MaxPapis in last year's inaugural FedEx Championship Series event at ChicagoMotor Speedway.

* Juan Montoya (Target Toyota Lola) seeks his fourth front-rowqualifying effort of the season Saturday. He started second at Homestead andRio de Janeiro and earned the pole for the rescheduled Bosch Spark PlugGrand Prix Presented by Toyota, May 27 at Nazareth Speedway.

* Jimmy Vasser (Target Toyota Lola) won the pole for the inauguralFedEx Championship Series event at Twin Ring Motegi in 1998. He was awardedthe pole after qualifying was rained out and the starting grid was based onpractice times.