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In preparation for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, the Verizon IndyCar Series drivers had a pair of practice sessions today to get their cars handling for tomorrow’s qualifying session and Sunday’s race.

At the end of the pair of practices, it was Takuma Sato topping the charts with a lap of one minute, 2.5615 seconds in his No. 14 ABC Supply car for A.J. Foyt Racing. Sato picked up his first career win last year early in the season and was strong in the first half of the year before falling off in the second half.

“I am very excited to back in St. Petersburg and excited to be on track,” Sato said. “The conditions were not very representative as usual for St. Petersburg, but still the car worked really well, and we made good progress during this session.  I am happy with the balance and the boys and the team worked really well today. Let’s hope this continues and we will work on speed for tomorrow.”

With new sponsor on board, Graham Rahal was second quickest in his No. 15 National Guard Honda as he looks to be more competitive this season. Rahal said earlier in the week with the added funds and new people on the team, he expects them to contend for race wins. St. Petersburg has treated Rahal well in the past as it was the sight of his first career win.

“Overall for our first day out I think it was a great day,” Rahal commented. “For us to be that competitive right off the bat feels awesome. I’ve got to say most of all I am proud of these National Guard guys because it was only 48, maybe 72 hours ago that we had a big trailer fire and our guys did an incredible job getting everything switched back over in Indy. It was a rush, it was absolutely a rush to get down here. I am proud of them and as dad said last night to them “through adversity comes a team” and I think we have a great group of people and I think that is going to show this year.”

Honda is debuting their new twin-turbo motor this week in hopes to match the performance of Chevrolet’s twin-turbo motor that debuted last season. So far, so good with them sweeping the top two spots.

Will Power was third quickest in his No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske as he hopes to get off to a better start this year than last. He was followed by his Penske teammate Helio Castroneves.

“Overall, it was a good job by the Hitachi guys today and it was good to get back out there after a long offseason,” Castroneves commented. “We avoided any issues and Mother Nature was messing with us a little bit. We improved a lot over the course of the day and put things together for a good session in the afternoon. That was a much smoother practice and we will continue learning and improving in the Hitachi Chevy as we go along.”

Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top five, followed by last year’s race winner James Hinchcliffe, Justin Wilson, Ryan Briscoe, last year’s champion Scott Dixon and Sebastian Bourdais. Jack Hawksworth was the highest rookie in 11th.

Juan Pablo Montoya, making his first open-wheel start in awhile, was 19th out of 22nd on the speed chart.

“Not a bad day today with the No. 2 Verizon Chevy,” Montoya commented after practice. “Obviously we wanted to be a little further up the speed charts, but we knew it was going to be a learning process. This is my first time on this circuit so we had to guess a little bit on the setups. Unfortunately we unloaded pretty far off. In the second sessions we picked up a big understeer. At that point we really quit focusing on speed and just tried to get the car driving better. I learned quickly that there are places on the track where the penalty of missing it is much greater than the gain, so from a track-learning perspective I’m much better off than I was when I got here.”

There will be a quick practice in the morning at 10 a.m. EST followed by Verizon Pole Qualifying at 2 p.m. EST.

After a pair of successful seasons in the OSCAAR Modifieds, Brent McLean is ready to tackle the majority of the OSCAAR Super Late Model season in 2014.

McLean unveiled his 2014 look at the Mega Speed Custom Car and Truck Show, which featured a beautiful and vibrant combination of blue, yellow and green on black by Mito-Graphics in Cambridge, Ontario.

McLean won’t enter his new tenure in the Super Lates without any experience as he ran a limited schedule last season, producing a couple solid runs along the way.

Beyond racing his Super Late, McLean will be once again behind the wheel of his No. 7 Modified as he looks to take home his first modified championship.

“I want and my team want the championship,” McLean commented as part of OSCAAR’s pre-season interviews. “Anything else and we just won’t be satisfied. I have enjoyed the success we have had so far, I am very proud to win the Woolner Memorial but I want that trophy in my shop for a year.”

McLean has been successful in the modified ranks the previous two years, scoring back-to-back runner-up points finishes. This past season, he led the points early in the year after some consistent finishes, though a couple bad finishes in the second half of the season resulted in a second place effort. Certainly there were some memorial moments from last year, including a pair of wins along the way.

 

For more information on OSCAAR, check out http://www.oscaar.ca.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway has announced that three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti will drive a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 to pace the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 on May 25.

“It is a tremendous honor for me to be asked to drive the Pace Car for the Indianapolis 500,” Franchitti said. “As a historian of motorsport and as a three-time winner of this great race, I will appreciate every minute of getting to pace the field in the new 2014 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28. Although I won’t be competing in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, this will be as close as one person can get to the action. I can’t wait until May in Indianapolis.”

Franchitti won the Indianapolis 500 in 2007, 2010 and 2012 and is only the third driver ever to win at least three consecutive IndyCar titles – among four championships overall. With his racecar driver days behind him as a result of a wreck last year at Fontana, Franchitti embarks in a new driver development role with Chip Ganassi Racing – which will use Chevrolet power in 2014.

“We are excited to have Dario Franchitti lead this year’s Indianapolis 500 starting field to the green flag,” J. Douglas Boles, president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, said. “Dario’s appearance in the Camaro Z/28 Pace Car will be special for race fans and it underscores Chevrolet’s important place in the past, present and future of the Indianapolis 500.”

For Chevrolet, it marks the 25th time a Chevrolet has paced the race, and the eighth time a Camaro has been the pace car, starting in 1967.

“Dario is a true champion who has earned the respect of competitors and race fans alike,” Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. vice president of performance vehicles and motorsports, said. “It will be very special to have Dario lead the field to the green flag in the Camaro Z/28 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.”

This weekend marks the kick-off weekend for the 2014 Verizon IndyCar season as all the drivers will look to claim the first victory of the year at St. Petersburg. One of those drivers will be Graham Rahal, who enters this year with a new sponsors on his IndyCar – the National Guard.

“St. Pete has always been good to me,” Rahal commented Tuesday. “It’s obviously a track I like, getting my first win there, my first pole there. Always been good vibes around St. Pete for whatever reason.

“I’m definitely excited to get back racing, number one, and number two there at St. Pete. Of all of our races throughout the year, I wish we had more identical to St. Pete. Great place, great atmosphere.”

Rahal picked up his first career IndyCar win in 2008, and backed it up with a pair of top 10s at St. Petersburg. However, in recent years, the second generation driver hasn’t had much success with no top 10s in his last three starts at the Florida track.

“I can’t remember 2011 what happened. 2012 we had some issues. 2013, last year, I had a great car, great chance to win, an electronic issue, the car just shut off. It’s basically been a dose of bad luck,” Rahal commented. “But we can get through all this stuff. The engineering staff that we have, they’re great guys, they’re great people. I think they’re committed to making this team one of the best.

“I’m excited for what’s to come. I think at the end of the day we have a great opportunity ahead of us with the National Guard. Everybody knows the funding we have, the ability that we now have to develop, and we have to make the most of it.”

To be successful this weekend, Rahal will look to put his off-season work to good use, while mastering the track as he says St. Petersburg can be extremely difficult simply due to the fact that there’s no margin for error on the back half of hte course.

“I think that’s extremely, extremely difficult,” Rahal added. “Makes it very difficult. 110 laps there is a long time. It gives you an opportunity to make a lot of mistakes.”

With having a new sponsor on board, there’s certainly pressure for the success to come early and Rahal says with the changes they’ve made from last year to this year, they should be more competitive this year. Though beyond being just more competitive, it’s about putting the pieces together.

“I look at it, and obviously I’ve had chances to win,” Rahal commented. “I think I finished second like 10 times or something. In my trophy room in my house it’s all second-place trophies. I’ve had opportunity to win from time to time, unfortunately it didn’t just come together. This year we need to focus on doing all those things.”

One of the things that Rahal says that they need to focus on, to start, is qualifying better.

“We race very well, but when you’re qualifying 14th, 15th on some of these streetcourses, it’s hard to make up that gap,” Rahal commented. “I think we have a good opportunity this year. I feel with National Guard it helps take our team to a whole new level. Of course, with Bill Pappas, John Dick, all the guys we brought onboard, that’s going to help a lot.

“But there’s always more work to be done. We’re going to see this weekend where we stand. At this point I couldn’t tell you. From our Sebring test, we were quickest there two of the three days we tested there, so I feel like we’re in the hunt when it comes to the street course package. We’re going to have to see what happens coming up this Friday, Saturday, Sunday. Weather might be a part of it, but we’ll just have to see.”

Rahal feels that they’re going to be stronger, from a qualifying standpoint, as they’re going about it with a smarter approach with bringing Bill Pappas on board as lead engineer.

“Last year with the engineering staff that we had, there was no common sensical thing,” Rahal explained. “Everything became a project. I think we have to get back to the days where at the end of the day it’s still a racecar and we’re trying to make it go fast. We have to think about the things that have worked the last 30 years to do so.

“I think Bill is that guy. We went and tested down in Sebring. Over the lunch break one day, he didn’t even open up his computer. I can’t tell you how refreshing that was.”

With the pieces beginning to come together, there’s no doubt that Rahal wants to win, especially with his sponsor on board. However, he says that you can’t put too much pressure on yourself or that’s when you start to fail.

“We want to do the best that we can. But I can tell you something, there have been guys winning races last year that I know I can beat,” Rahal explained. “I don’t look at myself and say, There’s no way that I can win because there’s guys that are winning that I’ve always been able to beat. There is some frustration in that.

“But we as a team just have to do a better job. When an opportunity presents itself to us, we have to take the opportunity, can’t be making mistakes. I think we’ll do a better job of that this year for sure.”

Unfortunately, Rahal’s team isn’t off to the best start as the transporter caught fire on Monday night.

“I think the fire started up in the engineering lounge, so luckily I think the cars were fine,” Rahal commented. “But it smoked everything out. We have to thank all the dry cleaners in Indianapolis because I think they’re putting everybody else’s stuff on hold today.

“It’s not ideal. Everybody knows that. I just got a text from one of my guys, What do we have to do to change our luck?  It’s literally like somebody doesn’t like us. Hopefully this is the last bit of bad luck we’ll have this year.”

Ed Carpenter Racing announced today that they’ve hired J.R. Hildebrand to drive the No. 21 for them in this year’s Indianapolis 500.

“I’m extremely excited to join Ed Carpenter Racing for this year’s Indianapolis 500,” Hildebrand said. “Ed’s team has been very strong on the ovals the past two years, including winning at Fontana and taking the pole position at last year’s ’500.’ Working with Ed and his staff at Indy gives me a lot of confidence going into the world’s biggest race. I can’t wait to jump into the No. 21 Chevy and get back to the Speedway.”

The 2011 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year will return to the Verizon IndyCar Series for the first time since Auto Club Speedway in 2013. Hildebrand did not run a full schedule lat year, only running seven of the 19 races. Hildebrand has had success at Indianapolis, scoring a second place finish in 2011.

“JR has been the Indy 500 Rookie of the Year and an Indy Lights champion, so his credentials are very impressive,” Carpenter said. “It is great to have another American driver in the 500 this year and competing with ECR. We believe a second car at Indy will assist us in preparing for a strong performance in this year’s Indy 500.”

This marks the first time that ECR will have a second entry for the biggest race of the season.

As previously announced, team owner Ed Carpenter will drive the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka car in six oval races in 2014, including the Indianapolis 500, while Mike Conway will pilot the entry in the remaining races on street and road courses. Last year, Carpenter put the car on the pole for the Indianapolis 500.

Practice begins May 11, with qualifications on May 17-18. Race Day for the 98th Running of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race will be May 25.

On Monday, Will Power topped the speed charts in his No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet with a lap of 01:07.6492 seconds around the 2.3 mile road course. Today, Power once again would top the speed charts, this time with a lap of 1 minute, 7.0608 seconds.

“Coming back to Barber, hopefully we found a happy place,” Power commented. “Obviously the temperature will be a lot different, and I think that brings out imbalances in the car. It was so cold today and there was so much grip, I think it was hard to get good reads on changes. We’ll see where we go and head to St. Pete, it’s going to be really tight.”

Test was delayed both days due to fog and mist throughout hte morning, but the second day certainly showed the level of competition in the Verizon IndyCar Series.

Justin Wilson was second quickest in his Dale Coyne Racing Honda, four-hundreths off of Power’s quick time.

“I think it’s great, I just want to know where it puts me on the grid for the race here,” Wilson commented. “Obviously nowhere, so you just have to take it with a pinch of salt. We like the progress that we’ve made to the car and the work that the team is doing. It’s a complete new set of guys, working with Michael Cannon, that just keeps getting better and better every time we run.”

Defending Series Champion Scott Dixon was third fastest, followed by Takuma Sato and Ryan Briscoe. After running a part-time schedule last year, Briscoe will run the full schedule this year for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Helio Castroneves was sixth quickest, followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe, Juan Pablo Montoya and Simon Pagenaud. Montoya, entering his first season of open-wheel racing since 2006, used the two days of testing to get to comfortable with his new ride.

“We got behind the track there a little bit at the end, but overall I’m really happy,” Montoya commented. “The Verizon Team Penske did a good job. I feel that I’m ready and looking forward to St. Pete.”

Tony Kanaan was 11th quickest in his new ride with Chip Ganassi, followed by rookie Jack Hawksworth, Charle Kimball, Sebastian Bourdais and Marco Andretti. Andretti is one of the early championship favourites going into the season following a consistent year last season. 

“Unfortunately we didn’t make a lot of progress the past two days,”Andretti summarized his test session. “A lot of the answers we found today, we’ll have to retest and come back when it’s hotter. We’re really questioning a lot of our reads just because of the low temperatures. Obviously we’re not really pleased with the pace, but we’re really making some strides with the Honda side…the drivability side – I’m really pleased with, we just need to get the balance right for when we bring the Snapple car back next month.””

The 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series season kicks off next weekend with St. Petersburg.

Testing for the Verizon IndyCar Series at Barber Motorsports Park was initially delayed due to mist, however once it got started, Team Penske showed the way with their three drivers topping the speed charts.

Will Power topped the charts in his No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet with a lap of 01:07.6492 seconds around the 2.3 mile road course.

“We’ve had to try different things, so it’s a good day for that,” Power commented. “Obviously the track conditions are exceptional, a lot of grip because it’s so cold, you gain a little bit of downforce. You’re always learning, there’s no use in belting around there not learning anything. We found some more good stuff, crossed off things that don’t work and I think we’re in a good place.”

Juan Pablo Montoya was second quickest, seven tenths of a second off of his Team Penske teammate.

“Just trying to get better and figure out new tires a little bit. I’m trying to learn how to get more out of the car and we’re getting there. It was good today, but there’s a couple of places that I need to do a little better job and be a little cleaner, but we’re getting there.”

Montoya is making his return to open-wheel competition after his tenure in NASCAR and drivers & media alike have debated whether Montoya will have success right off the bat. Power says so far, it’s been good working with Montoya.

“Collectively as a team we try to improve the car and learn from each other, but when it comes to racing, the better guy is going to be winning. It’s competition; it’s just how it is,” Power added. “This series, he could win the first race quite easily. I expect him to definitely drive to the front everywhere, so if you’re at the front knocking on the door, eventually you’re going to get a win.”

Castroneves rounded out the Team Penske three-some, followed by Scott Dixon as Chevrolet swept the top four sports. Takuma Sato rounded out the top five in fifth with his A.J Foyt Racing Honda.

Ryan Briscoe was sixth quickest, followed by Justin Wilson, Simon Pagenaud, James Hinchcliffe and Ryan Hunter-Reay.

“The Open Test at Barber is like going back for the first day of school,” Pagenaud commented. “We’ve got a brand new bright blue livery on the No. 77 car, and I really love how it stands out from all of the other cars on track. The SPM crew has done a great job preparing the car because we’re already very fast. Honda’s engine seems to be very powerful and we were right at the top of the time sheet for the whole day at Barber.”

Pagenaud added that he feels good with where the team is right now compared to last year.

Teams will be given another test session tomorrow to continue to work on their cars leading to next weekend’s season opener. Montoya says it’s a really good opportunity to keep working on the car.

“We’re going to try to get in some long runs tomorrow and hopefully running in some traffic,” Montoya commented. “I think that is going to be one of the key things (heading into St. Petersburg).”