Tagliani shines in Toronto gloom.

A heavy rain shower shortly after the first practice session of the Molson Indy Toronto weekend finished meant that the 1.755-mile Exhibition Place circuit was completely awash by the time second practice began.

Rocketsports Racing's Alex Tagliani set the pace, but his best time aboard the #33 Johnson Controls Lola-Ford was nearly ten seconds slower than Paul Tracy's stunning earlier speed.

As it did earlier on in the day, the rain actually held off while the Champ Cars were on track but such was the preceding deluge that there was no dry line for the drivers to explore before the chequered flag came out despite the Simple Green Safety Team's best efforts at the start of the session.

Tracy and his Player's/Forsythe Racing teammate Patrick Carpentier didn't even bother to risk their equipment in second practice as they and three other drivers elected not to turn any laps, including Team Rahal's Michel Jourdain Jr who has yet to make an on-track appearance this weekend.

Tagliani set the pace in the final minutes of the 50-minute session with a fastest lap of 69.673secs, more than three tenths quicker than former Toronto winner Adrian Fernandez and wet weather ace Roberto Moreno.

Dale Coyne Racing's Geoff Boss was an outstanding fourth fastest with his new teammate Alex Sperafico an even more incredible sixth quickest, the two DCR machines sandwiching Cleveland winner Sebastien Bourdais in an all Lola top six.

Fully fit again after his warm-up crash in Cleveland, Tiago Monteiro placed the Fittipaldi-Dingman Racing Reynard-Ford in seventh position ahead of Jimmy Vasser, Darren Manning and Mario Haberfeld.

Patrick Racing's Oriol Servia and PK Racing's Max Papis also chose to sit out the session, which could prove to be a costly error if the poor weather continues for the rest of the weekend.