[media-credit name=”Team Chevy” align=”alignleft” width=”292″][/media-credit]On the final restart with 16 laps to go, Will Power held Scott Dixon off to win the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama for the second year in a row.
This marks the 16th career IndyCar victory for Power and the first of the 2012 season.
“That was an awesome race,” Power says. “(Team Engineer) Tim Cindric kept putting me in such a good position so we could use our speed. That last restart was kind of hairy. I knew Scott (Dixon) was going to be really quick and hounded me for a couple laps there. It’s good to get the Verizon 12 car in victory lane with a Chevy engine. It was awesome.”
Power started the race in the ninth position, making a daring three-wide pass on lap one. He consistently worked his way through the field, getting the lead from Dixon following a round of pit stops.
“(My crew was) on the money today,” he says. “Without these guys, there’s no way we could have won today.”
Power’s win kept the Team Penske seal on Barber Motorsports Park going as Penske has won all three races there. They won the last two years with Power and won in 2010 with Helio Castroneves.
Dixon would come second for his 27th second place finish of all-time after leading the most laps.
“I think today we did a good job,” Dixon says. “We got caught up there in some traffic in the pit, the pit sequence kind of got us there. All in all, Team Target did a fantastic job with Honda, I think we’re starting to get on something with this car, so hopefully in the next few races we might be looking at the top spot on the podium.”
Pole sitter Castroneves would finish third to keep the points lead.
“First I want to thank AAA, Shell/Pennzoil, Verizon, SKF—those guys give us great support,” Castroneves says. “To be honest it was very difficult. Those are my tires from qualifying. Unfortunately, I locked a little bit too much, I used them a little bit too much. I mean it paid off starting from the pole position, but certainly hurt me a little bit, actually a lot, in the race. That’s why (Scott Dixon) was able to go off of Turn 2, good run but I was just staying in the middle and not do too much. But in the end, I thought it was a great battle, I think that’s what [racing’s about], and I want to apologize as well to (James) Hinchcliffe. My car was already bad with those reds and as soon as we restarted the race it pushed so bad that we kind of squeezed him and I felt terrible. We were having a great race, hopefully we’ll have a better one next time”
Graham Rahal would finish fourth for his first top five finish this year, while Simon Pagenaud finished fifth for his best IndyCar finish since a fourth place finish at Edmonton in 2007. Pagenaud now leads the Sonoco Rookie of the Year Standings, 26 points over Josef Newgarden. Newgarden finished the race in 17th.
After starting on the front row, James Hinchcliffe would finish sixth, followed by Mike Conway, Rubens Barrichello, Sebastian Bourdais and Dario Franchitti.
Castroneves now leads the points leading, two points over Dixon and nine points over Power.
With back-to-back wins to start the season, Chevrolet leads the Manufactures Championships six points over Honda.
[media-credit id=72 align=”alignright” width=”102″][/media-credit]On October 16, Will Power was involved in the same 15 car pileup that killed fellow driver Dan Wheldon. News reports Will Power fractured his back in the wreck. The 30 year old IndyCar driver from Australia, was treated and released from Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s infield care center but he kept having back pains.
Power was then diagnosed with compression fracture to his thoracic vertebrae, one off from the vertebrae he injured in 2009 at Sonoma. The thoracic vertebrae is located in the middle of your back between the lumber and the cervical vertebrae’s. A fracture to the thoracic vertebrae can cause extreme pain and paralysis.
With 5 months until the 2012 IndyCar season begins, Doctor Terry Trammell says with rest and rehab, Power should be able to recover.
Last year, Will Power won the Honda Indy Toronto and in beginning the quest to go back-to-back, Power won the PEAK Performance Pole Award at Exhibition Place in Toronto. Power’s lap of 59.5771 seconds gives him his fifth road course pole award of the season and eighth in a row over the past two seasons.
“I think it’s impossible to get a good balance around this place with so many different surfaces and the bumps,” he said. “So you got to make the most of it.
“It seems impossible to put a perfect lap together, too. You gain somewhere on one lap and you lose it somewhere else. It’s such a fun track because you absolutely ring the car’s neck in every possible way, under brakes, on power, everywhere. It’s always fun.
“I don’t think qualifying is a big deal because I really think you can come from the back and win this race. It’s just that sort of track. Plenty of passing, lots of mayhem.”
Scott Dixon qualified second to start on the front row for the second time this season with a lap of 59.6646 seconds.
“It was pretty tough,” he said. “As I said yesterday, I think the track’s very demanding, more so this year with the bumps, just where you got to try to get the speed out of the car.
“Qualifying was pretty smooth for us for the first two groups. I think the big question for most people today was how much you’re actually going to gain on the reds. Maybe some speculation they weren’t going to be much quicker at all. Turned out they were. So, you know, pretty decent. Little disappointed with Q3. We might adjust. Had enough in it. I’m sure Will didn’t get the most out of his lap as well. At least we’ve made improvements. The cars are quicker and obviously quicker to the No. 12 that’s been dominating on the road courses. Pretty happy all in all. Pretty confident both Target cars will be strong in the race.”
IZOD IndyCar Series Points Leader Dario Franchitti qualified third (59.900), followed by Mike Conway (59.9330) and Graham Rahal.
“I thought that my car was good,” he said. “That last Fast Six, I didn’t get the most out of it. I kept screwing up one corner and eventually got it halfway right, by which point was about lap five. Probably the best of the tire had gone. That was totally my fault. I didn’t get into rhythm quick enough. So ended up third.
“I felt we probably had enough to get close to these guys, maybe not ahead. But P3 is all right. I think I’m happy with the way that the Target car is on black and red tires. We’ll see what we’ve got tomorrow.”
Franchitti set the track record at the beginning of the session in the first round of qualifying with a lap of 59.3535 seconds, however it was Power who had the quickest lap during the Firestone Fast Six Qualifying round.
[media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”150″][/media-credit]There are times that one driver’s misfortune can turn into another’s good fortune and that was the case for Will Power. When Helio Castoneves was on trial for tax evasion charges, Roger Penske was looking for another driver to potentially replace him.
As they say, the rest is history, but since getting together with Penske, that now has him working with both Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe.
“Both very good drivers,” Power commented. “I think that we all have a good relationship and work very well together. I think that we get the most of the car that we can because of each other’s feedback.”
It has also brought lots of success, including a special win at Sonoma last year.
“I think most my memorable win would have to be Sonoma last year after breaking my back there a year earlier and coming back and having a perfect weekend winning that race,” he said.
So far this year, things have been quite solid for Power as in the nine races this season, he has three wins, four poles, six top fives and seven top 10s.
“It’s been quiet, in one way, a little bit mixed up,” he said. “We’ve had a few different winners, but its just proven to be very tight, very competitive, and it’s a lot of fun. I’m enjoying it actually, more relaxed this year.”
The last race for the IndyCars didn’t work out that good for Power, however, as he wrecked on lap 90 after having contact with another car early on pit road.
“You don’t want to have two bad races in a row,” he said when asked if there’s added pressure this week. “It’s always possible, but I think I just need to put my focus on this weekend and forget about what happened, which I’ve done.”
Power’s chances at going back-to-back look strong as he led the final practice for the IZOD IndyCars on Friday.
“I think is great for racing because it has a slippery surface, very long back straight,” he said of the Toronto course. “It’s always good to put a good show on and it’s a track that you can come back from a lap down to win so it’s a place that everyone enjoys coming to.”
Through his experience in racing, Power has learned many lessons, though the one he calls the top lesson is patience.
“I think patience is definitely something in IndyCar that you really need,” he said. “I think that is the key to winning a championship – being patient at the right time. Its always about having a good balance between patience and aggression.”
[media-credit id=4 align=”alignleft” width=”150″][/media-credit]In preparation for the Honda Indy on July 10th, the IZOD IndyCar Series hit to the streets of Toronto for a pair of practices.
In the first practice, it was Dario Franchitti leading the way with an average speed of 102.619 and was followed by Penske Racing driver Helio Castroneves with a speed of 102.51.
“Overall, it was a good day for the Penske Truck Rental team,” Castroneves said. “Right off the bat, the car had good balance and good speed here in Toronto. We didn’t put on new tires at the end of the last practice – I wanted to, but my new strategist (John Erickson) is already working on trying something different so I listened to him! I love the yellow car and the yellow suit of Penske Truck Rental. It reminds me of Dancing With the Stars. Let’s hope we have the same kind of result this weekend.”
Team Penske put Erickson in place as the strategist for Castroneves for the first time this weekend in Toronto. Erickson was working with Will Power, who will now be teamed up with Tim Cindric. Finally, Clive Howell will continue to focus on his duties as team general manager.
Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top three at an average speed of 102.458mph.
“We were third-quick in the first session, so we had a good morning – and I think we were having a good afternoon,” he said. “The DHL/Circle K/Sun Drop car was feeling pretty good; we were in the top five until we decided not to take new tires like most of the top 10 did. But, we’ll just save those for tomorrow and hopefully it will pay off for us.”
Justin Wilson and Power was fourth and fifth, followed by Scott Dixon was sixth, followed by Alex Tagliani, Takumo Sato, Tony Kanaan and Mike Conway. James Hinchcliffe, who calls the Honda Indy his hometown race, was the quickest rookie in 11th.
The first practice saw no on track incidents.
In the second practice, Power led the way with an average speed of 104.330.
“The Verizon car is good, but we are still not quick enough,” he said. “We put tires on there at the end of the second practice and no one else did. We are just a bit off the pace. We still have a few things in mind to improve the car. It is great to be in Toronto, though, and relaly good to see all the fans.”
He was followed by Ganassi Racing driver Dixon with a speed of 104.145 as the top 15 cars were quicker than Franchitti’s first session quickest lap.
“It’s definitely cool to be back at a street course, especially Toronto,” he said. “It’s a fun circuit. It’s definitely different than the last four races with all left hand turns and now coming back to a bumpy circuit. The track seems to be a little bumpier, especially going into turn 1 and maybe down the back straight as well. It’s created a few new issues that we haven’t had before. The times actually seem surprisingly quicker. Even on the primary tires, we only seems to be five-tenths off the quick times of the options.”
Franchitti was third in the session, followed by Hinchcliffe and Kanaan. Wilson was sixth, followed by Oriol Servia, Ryan Briscoe, Castroneves and Danica Patrick.
The second practice saw two full course yellows. The first was eight minutes into the session when Tagliani spun mid corner in turn 8, making contact with the outside retaining wall. He was then struck by Graham Rahal, briefly lifting the car off the ground. Due to the wreck, Tagliani suffered rear wing damage while Rahal had front wing damage. The second incident was when Sebastian Bourdais stopped on course in turn 8. After being re-fired by the Holmatro Safety Team, he was able to make it back to pit lane. There was also local caution, which saw Ana Beatriz spin in turn 2.
Qualifying will take place Saturday afternoon at 12:50pm EST, with the race taking place on Sunday July 10th at 2pm ET.
Following a hard hit in the Turn 2 SAFER Barrier on June 25th at Iowa Speedway during Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer, Will Power was back at it behind the wheel, testing the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Following the wreck, Power suffered a minor concussion and in which per IndyCar rules, Power took the ImPACT (Immediate Post-concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) test and was re-evaluated.
“It’s good to be back out there in the Verizon car,” Power said, who enters Toronto second in the championship standings, 20 points behind Dario Franchitti. “It was a hard hit at Iowa, but I didn’t actually get knocked out or anything. I just had a headache for the first night and some neck soreness. I needed to get checked out by the INDYCAR officials and it was more precautionary than anything, but that’s good, because you can never be too careful.
“Every driver does a test, called an ImPACT test, at the beginning of every season. It basically tests your reflexes, your memory and so on. Then you have to go back and do that test again if you have an incident like what we had in Iowa. I took the test (June 28) and the doctors cleared me to drive.”
As a result of being cleared on July 28th, Power was on hand testing with Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe, along with Dale Cyone Racing’s James Jakes. The IZOD IndyCar Series visits the 2.258-mile on August 7th for the 50th Anniversary Honda Indy 200.
The next race for the IZOD IndyCar Series is the Honda Indy Toronto, July 8th-10th, which Will Power won last year.
“I’m glad we got the chance to test here at Mid-Ohio to get ready for the road courses coming up,” Power said. “Now I’m looking forward to going back to Toronto next week and trying to defend our win there with Verizon Team Penske.”
Before racing in Toronto, Power will also participate in another test New Hampshire Motor Speedway with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s driver Pippa Mann.
IZOD IndyCar Series officials require drivers to take the ImPACT test at teh beginning of the year to set a baseline test as drivers are suspectiable to concussions and other head and neck injuries during crashess. Before a driver is allowed to enter an event, they are required to establish their baseline data by performing the 30-minute, computerized ImPACT test, which measures a range of neurocognitive functions including memory, reaction time, attention span and more. The test measures a driver’s cognitive abilities under normal, healthy conditions. If a driver suffers a head injryy, they are required to take the test and the doctors will compare the results with the baseline to determine the severity of the injury and best possible treatment.
The final 50 laps of the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer at Iowa Speedway would be a showstopper as it’d be Marco Andretti and Tony Kanaan battling back and forth for the win.
In the end, Andretti used one of his remaining overtake boosts to get by Kanaan with 19 to go and then used the other nine in the final 10 laps to secure it.
[media-credit id=2 align=”alignright” width=”246″][/media-credit]”Never doubt these guys,” Andretti said after the race after scoring his first win since Sonoma in 2007. “We’re down a little bit on the big ovals, but when it comes down to the end, we’ll be alright. These guys in the pits got me back in front with the great pit stop. Great racing with TK – it was fun.”
The second career win for Andretti marks the first win on an oval by an Andretti since 2000 when Michael Andretti won at Japan.
After a caution on lap 186 for Takumo Sato getting in the wall, Andretti lined up side-by-side with Kanaan on the restart. The first restart with 60 to go was called off for Andretti jumping, but the second was good to go.
The pair battled back and forth, trading the lead four times before Andretti secured the lead with a thrilling pass heading into turn one underneath Kanaan.
“I had eyes in the back of my head and I made it difficult on him,” Andretti said. “No mercy at this point. I needed it.”
Kanaan would get credited with second, keeping his string of solid runs going.
“I told him if it wasn’t for the win, we were going to talk about it so fair enough,” Kanaan said afterwards of racing with Andretti. “If I was in his position, I would’ve done the same. It was a great battle. A fun race.”
Meanwhile, it was Scott Dixon finishing third after starting 23rd on the field.
“It was a great night for us,” Dixon said. “It’s a good finish. The car wasn’t that great. The guys in the pits did a helluva job. Its obviously a good points night for Dario and I. It was crazy back there early on, but there was some good, close racing near the end.”
JR Hildebrand and Dario Franchitti would round out the top five. Ryan Briscoe would finish sixth, followed by Helio Castroneves, Ryan Hunter-Reay, James Hinchcliffe and Danica Patrick.
Throughout the night, a couple drivers took some hard hits, including Will Power, who backed it into the wall on lap 90. The incident came after substaining damage on pit road from contact with Charlie Kimball on lap 14.
“It was definitely a hard hit,” Power said, after coming into Iowa tied for the points lead with Dario Franchitti. “The Verizon car was damaged after the incident in the pits and we just had a problem with the steering and it came around on me. It’s a tough result for us tonight. We’ll do our best to get it back next race.”
Power would be evaluated and it’d be determined that he suffered a minor concussion. IndyCar officials said that before he can compete in Toronto in two weeks, he will need to be cleared.
Other drivers taking hard hits would be Ana Beatriz and Mike Conway in a big wreck early on and Sebastian Saavedra (Lap 116), though everybody was checked out and released as being okay.
IZOD IndyCar Series Points Leader Will Power topped the charts today with a speed of 227.778 (mph) for the fastest lap of the day and the month so far.
“I don’t think the speeds are very representative of where anyone is at,” Power said. “You go out and happen to get a really good tow, and you get a big number. That’s what happened at the end. Verizon Team Penske worked on race setup most of the day. I was very comfortable following cars. We haven’t changed much from last year. We had good cars last year and need to rub on them a little bit, and that will do the trick.”
With the shortened practice time, teams are having to change their strategy.
“I think tomorrow, early on, we’ll be working on race stuff, and then we’ll start trimming out for qualifying,” Power continued. “We’ll be working on the car. I think it’s pretty important to focus on the race. You could spend a lot of time screwing around with qualifying things, and then it’ll be different conditions the next day. We have to have a good car in the race. That’s what we’ll be focusing on.”
Alex Tagliani remained near the top of the time sheet as he ranked second with a quick lap of 227.652.
“We did well today,” Tagliani said. “We learned a lot. We had good track position, and we weren’t in a lot of traffic. That lap (227.652 mph), I was behind Dario Franchitti, so I had a bit of a tow. But it shows that the car is quick and capable of doing it. I think we still have more to come. We just need to make sure that when it comes time to do it, we have the right balance.”
Tagliani feels that he has a good shot for the pole.
“The way the car is running right now, for sure it is,” Tagliani added. “I think we would be foolish to think that we couldn’t do it. But the truth is that Penske and Ganassi have really good cars, and they know their way around this place. They have 10 times more experience than us. I’m sure by qualifying they’re going to do something amazing to their cars, and all of a sudden they’re going to be up to the top and we’re going to end up fighting with them. But if that happens, that’s OK. We should be proud that guys like Roger and Chip are looking at us, going, ‘Why are those guys so quick?’ That’s kind of our mindset right now.”
Power’s Penkse Racing teammate Briscoe was third with 227.217.
“It was a very good day, overall,” Briscoe said. “We worked on the race setup on the No. 6 IZOD Team Penske car, and I worked a lot with my teammates on track. We made a ton of changes throughout the day, and we were very productive. We trimmed out the car at the end of the session and focused a bit more on speed. All in all, it was a very productive day.”
Three time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves was fourth (226.927).
“It was certainly a good and full day for the No. 3 Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra team,” Castroneves said. “We ran a lot of laps and all of them were really about race setup. My teammates, Will and Ryan, did some qualifying runs so we know what we need to do there, but we really just focused on getting our car right for the race. Tomorrow will be all about speed for us. It’s going to be fun!”
Townsend Bell rounded out the top five with a speed of 226.741mph.
“We did a good amount of running,” Bell said. “It was good to get out with the Herbalife car after the rain the last two days. We learned a lot and tried several things that were on our list. We’ve very comfortable.”
The sesson did not go without incident as Simona de Silvestro made heavy contact with the outside wall, before going airborne and catching fire. She was transported to Methodist Hospital to be treated for burns to her hands and released.
Team owner Keith Wiggins stated that the car de Silvestro was damaged beyond the repair as they’ll have to go to a back-up car.
“We can build a good car, but it probably won’t be as good as the original car because that was built specifically for here,” Wiggins said. “There are a lot of specialties about building a car for here, and we only had one of those built because that is all our resources will allow. So the question is will this car be as quick as the other one? That’s the challenge.”
In the past five road course races, Will Power has started on pole and finished either first or second.
After finishing second last week, Power would not be denied this week as he qualified first and led flag-to-flag on his way to winning the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. The win marked the 10th win of his career.
“The key was to make sure I got the jump on him every time,” Power said. “It seemed like it was yellow-after-yellow. But man, that was one of the most relaxing races I’ve ever had. I am going to be a lot better on ovals and I am very determined. I am going to win that championship.”
Power is the first driver to lead flag-to-flag since Dario Franchitti at Sonoma in 2009.
Scott Dixon finished second after trying to find a way around Power all day.
“It is going to take a long time to make back the points that we lost at St. Peterburg’s with all of these teams,” Dixon said. “I think Helio jumped us on the restart, but it was better to just let him go. We worked by Ryan on the second stint and then sat behind Will all day. I pushed hard behind Will to try to catch him but in those final eight laps, I couldn’t get close as I had ran the tires off of the car.”
Dixon was followed by his teammate and last week’s winner Dario Franchitti.
“Its like we said at the end of last year, every point means a lot as every position means something,” Franchitti said. “Briscoe pushed me in the grass in one, left the door open into two and then off the turn, he closed the door so that was just racing. You think on these restarts you’re able to get by these guys, but Will and Scott were too far in front of us. Up until the final restart, I thought we had a good car but we didn’t get the right balance. I was just trying to get a good finish and to go from seventh to third here is pretty good.”
Marco Andretti finished fourth with Orio Servia in fifth. Tony Kanaan finished sixth after starting 26th.
“A little bit of luck and a good start,” Kanaan said. “We took the advantage to pass a lot of cars on the start and that actually changed my strategy. We were thinking of pitting on lap 10, but when we got up front, we decided to pit a little later. I got to thank my pit crew for some good pit stops as we’re a relative new team. I struggled all weekend as it wasn’t a coincidence that I was almost dead last every sesson as there was something seriously wrong. We took Takumo Sato’s set-up and on the start, I made a good jump.”
He was followed by Helio Castroneves, Sebastian Pagenaud, Simona de Silvestro and Charlie Kimball.
It wasn’t easy for Power today as there were multiple cautions for multiple incidents throughout the day.
The first caution came on lap 1 as JR Hildebrand and Raphael Matos made contact causing Matos to spin.
Then on lap 37, Alex Taglani spun and got stuck on the sand trap to bring out the caution. Though a lap before, James Jakes pits as his car was on fire.
We came in and made a pit stop,” Jakes said. “As I came out of turn three, it felt pretty hot in there and the team said to look at the telemetry. It looked a little hot so I brought it down pit road.”
The restart came on lap 41, though right away, de Silvestro, James Hinscliffe and EJ Viso wrecked. Castroneves made it three-wide, which made things tight, causing drivers to make contact with each other.
“We got off to a rough start,” Hinscliffe. “I was hoping to not make too many mistakes. I went around in lap 1 but the team was coming back in the top 10. Then Simona got into EJ, which it isn’t his fault that he spun. But any driving school you go to will tell you that you hit the clutch and the brake when you spin, not the gas. It just sucks for this Newman-Haas team.”
“Unfortunately, we were in the wrong place, wrong positoon,” EJ Viso. “Simona had a pretty good restart, passing three-or-four cars and then she spun, I tried to avoid her and Hinscliffe came down into me.”
The restart came on lap 46, which another incident then took place as Mike Conway got hooked into the wall by his teammate Danica Patrick.
“Just coming over the top of the hill, I feel we just crossed paths, made contact and unfortunately wrecked,” Mike Conway said.
The restart came on lap 50, and then six laps later, Ryan Hunter-Reay bounced off the curb into Ryan Briscoe.
“Well, I mean I think Ryan is sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong,” Briscoe said afterwards. “I tried to give him room and looks like he just stuck the nose in there. He was that much quicker and he could’ve waited the half a lap to pass me.”
Hunter-Reay was given a penalty for unavoidable contact, in which he replied on the radio saying, “I thought I was giving him room and he just turned down. I just can’t believe this.”
The restart came on lap 62, which then on lap 63, Justin Wilson wrecked after he hit Rapael Matos, causing him to turn back into him.
“I think when I look back at it, its a racing incident,” Wilson said. “As we were racing in, Raphael gave me room and then came down, I kept backing down backing down and got into him. If you look there, he had a whole lane on the outside.”
Wilson ran the race today with a wrist injury he suffered at St. Peterburg’s.
“The wrist was bugging me, but it is fine,” he continued. “The carbonfibre brace I had broke on lap 45 so I threw that out and put this one on under caution.”
The multiple back-to-back cautions were caused in a large part due to contact on the double-file restarts, which is fresh for the series.
“From the fans point of view, it looked a lot of exciting,” Kanaan said after the race of the double-file restarts. “I think we need to work together on taking care of each other’s stuff. We crashed on almost every restart and that’s not a coincidence. This is only the second race that we’ve done it so we got to get used to it. Do I like it? No, but it worked into my favor. I think as drivers we need to learn to take care of other. Right now I am 50/50. They told me the fans like it and I am just a driver so if they tell me I have to do it, then I have to do it.”
Plenty of debates have been brought up with the rule, including how the leader restarts the race. Dixon complained that Power was crossing lines on the start, in which Ganassi added at one point during the race that if Power does it one more time, he was going to get his driver to take him out.
“Like usual, Brian did nothing about it,” Dixon said after the race. “If you’re going to make a rule, you need to enforce it.”
The IndyCar Series spent March 14th and 15th testing at Barber Motorsports Park, where Penske Racing assured their spot on top of the IZOD IndyCar Series. It also previewed another season of a Penske Racing-Target Chip Ganassi Racing battle for the championship.
On the first day of testing, Penske driver Will Power topped the charts at 114.198mph, with a lap of 1 minute, 12.5056 seconds. Target Chip Ganassi Racing Driver Scott Dixon was second (1.12.5538) with Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s Justin Wilson third (1.12.6791).
On the second day of testing, Helio Castroneves led the field at 1 minute, 11.943 seconds with teammate Power second at 1.11.9636.
“I was expecting something different from the car because it kept changing throughout the day based on the track,” Castroneves said. “I was expecting the car was going to push but it went the opposite way. The good news is that nothing was damaged. The field is so competitive; we have some new teams up at the top giving us a hard time. Also my teammates, they are two great talents – Ryan (Briscoe) and Will (Power) – pushing each other but I’m glad we were able to put the No. 3 up at the top at the end of the day.”
“This was a really good couple of days of testing and our Verizon car was very good,” Power said. “We did a lot of work and learned tons of valuable information about our car here at Barber. Today we practiced pit stops, which are every bit as important as speed on the track with how tight the competition is in this series. I am definitely ready to get this season started.”
Dixon, Penske’s Ryan Briscoe and Newman/Haas Racing’s Oriol Servia rounded out the top five on the second day.
“Team Target had a good couple of days with lots of big and good changes,” Dixon said. “The No. 9 Target Honda has been decent, remaining in the top-3 both days. We’re just going through the motions and making necessary adjustments before we start the season in St. Pete.”
“It was a really good couple of days here at Barber for the No. 6 IZOD Team Penske car,” Briscoe said. “We are very happy with the car we finished with today. We even did a long run, which compromised our chance to do a sticker tire run for time, but we did a lot of great race prep and we should be in good shape for the race here in a few weeks. This is an exciting track and I’m very happy to be back in an IndyCar.”
“I’m so happy!” Servia said. “Obviously it’s great to be in the top-five, but I’m just so happy. When you are running in the top-five, there is a reason. I felt good in the car, with the team. I was a blast when I looked at the scoring board an hour before the end and we were one and two. That’s the way Newman/Haas has always been, and that’s the way it has to be and it just felt great that we got there with two days of testing. There is still a lot to come from myself and the car. We progressed big stages to get where we are and there is still more. I feel very happy; everybody is super motivated. James was super helpful all day yesterday and today with him knowing the track and I really hope we can be teammates. The two cars worked together really well and we made a lot of progress together. I’m very happy with the team and myself. When you are a year out of the car, of course you still think you can drive but it is just so great knowing it is true.”
The test sesson was set to prepare for the season opener at St. Peterburg’s on March 28th, but also the Grand Prix of Alabama, which is set to take place on April 10th at Barber.
The test didn’t go totally uneventful free as on the second day, Mike Conway made contact with the tire barriers.
“The car handled a little differently than it did yesterday, and it just caught me out,” Conway said. “I got on the grass coming out of (Turn) 15 and it was so wet, it took me straight into the barrier. It’s a shame, but fortunately, it’s just a test day.”
Dario Franchitti, last year’s champion, made some recommendations to track owner George Barber, but also had some compliments.
“I asked him if the curbs could stand out more when they paint them — red and white as opposed to gray and white,” he said. “I also told him I wouldn’t mind borrowing the guy who cuts his grass because he does a hell of a job. If my wife sees what he’s doing here, planting trees and stuff, it will be very expensive for me. It’s a pretty special place.”
Last year was a special year for Chip Ganassi as not only did he win the IndyCar Championship with Franchitti, they also won the Indianapolis 500 together. Ganassi also added a Daytona 500 and Brickyard 400 victory to his resume with Jamie McMurray, along with the Grand-Am Championship. With his accomplishments, Ganassi is nominated for Executive of the Year, while his team Chip Ganassi Racing is nominated for Team of the Year in the Sports Business Journal Awards. The awards are set to be presented in New York on May 18th.
“It’s great to be recognized for all the hard work the teams put in,” Ganassi said. “You have to remember that motorsports is one of those businesses that as great a year that 2010 was, and it was an unbelievable year and one that any car owner dreams about, that was last year and this is this year. It’s a zero-based game.
“We’re starting back at zero and the points are all tied for all the championships. It’s a new year and no one is going to forget about last year faster than our competitors that want to beat us. It’s going to be a lot of hard work and to accomplish anything close to what we did last year, but that’s why we are back here. That’s the kind of challenge that we like and what attracts us to the sport — the challenge.”
Ganassi has already started leaving his mark this year with a victory in the Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona.
[/media-credit]On the final restart with 16 laps to go, Will Power held Scott Dixon off to win the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama for the second year in a row.
