Welcome to St. Petersburg - First Practice

8:46am ET - Welcome to the Lizards' second-ever street race. We're here in sunny St. Pete for a combined race with the IRL, and there are plenty of challenges to be overcome. The logistical challenges of racing on a temporary street circuit are tough, for example we have very short windows of opportunity to get to and from pitlane with all of our equipment before and after track sessions, and it's a bit of a hike from our paddock to the rest of the circuit.

We've been noticing lots of wildlife so far this weekend - Jennifer noted seeing an alligator on her morning run yesterday, and she and Shane saw a dolphin in the harbor during their track tour in the afternoon. Then we had reports of "livestock on the track" before morning practice started.

The circuit itself is reported by the drivers to be nicer than the average street course. It's relatively wide, and it certainly is scenic, but the drivers and engineers did a walkaround yesterday and said that the surface of the track would be a challenge. Sure enough, within 2 laps of hitting the track this morning, Darren reported that the camber change in turn 3 - one of narrowest parts of the track - gets the car very unsettled. If previous ALMS street races are any indication, there may well be some carnage on track this weekend.