Penske, Power Quickest in IZOD INDYCAR Friday Session at Barber

A cloudy, wet weather greeted the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series drivers and teams for their first day at Barber Motorsports Park for Sunday‘s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama. Due to rain that intensified over the course of Friday, the fastest session for the 26 race cars around the 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course occurred in the late morning.

The defending winner of the 2011 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama with a masterful flag-to-flag victory, Will Power kicked off one day at Barber Motorsports Park with the top time in overall Friday practice. Power’s lap time of 1 minute, 11.2886 seconds was faster than the times from in qualifying for the 2011 race. Power was 21/100ths of a second faster than his Penske Racing teammate and recent St Petersburg victor Helio Castroneves. “The Verizon No. 12 Chevy felt very good this morning before the rain.” said Will Power confident on his ability to repeat at Barber Motosports park. “We have tested here a lot and know the track very well and the set-up very well. We just made minor adjustments to the car because we basically know what we want.” said Power. With two of the three Team Penske Chevrolet entries at the front Friday, the third entry handled by Ryan Briscoe settled for 15^th quickest among the IZOD INDYCAR Series racers.

While the presence of Team Penske at the top of IZOD INDYCAR result sheers is a trend early in the 2012 season, Friday’s remaining top-five fastest lap times threw a surprising curve ball into the year’s second race weekend for the open wheel stars. Recommitting to the IZOD INDYCAR Series schedule for the first time since 2008, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team’s #15 car piloted by Takuma Sato grabbed the third fastest speed for day one. Both cars are powered by Honda engines. In 4^th place in the combined practice results was series rookie of the year Simon contender Josef Newgarden driving for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing.

Considered to be the teams presenting best chances for challenging the Team Penske juggernaut into the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series season, Andretti Autosport and Chip Ganassi Racing both had race cars in the top-10 during Friday practice at Barber Motorsports Park. Andretti Autosports was led by the #26 car of Marco Andretti in 6^th place in the first track session. Planning to mount a stronger race than the season opening effort at St Petersburg, defending IZOD INDYCAR series driver Dario Franchitti logged a 9^th fastest time ahead of an affiliated #38 car driven by Graham Rahal.

Despite rather light track activity at Barber Motorsport Park, several IZOD INDYCAR Series drivers and teams desperate for testing took full advantage of Friday to acquaint themselves with their 2012 Dallaras. Setting the record for Friday laps was the former Formula 1 driver Rubens Barrichello for KV Racing Technology. Logging 34 laps, Barrichello was also fastest around the Barber Motorsports Park course recorded at 5^th fastest amongst the practice times in both practices. “I have only done one test here, but it makes a huge difference compared to last weekend at St. Petersburg.” said Rubens Barrichello. Barrichello’s teammate and fellow Brazilian Tony Kanaan was 7^th quick on Friday in the #11 car. First practice for the IZOD INDYCAR Series ended with Kanaan stopped on track after running out of fuel.

While Tony Kanaan’s event was not severe, the #18 of Justin Wilson did encounter a failure relating to his Honda powerplant driving his Dale Coyne Racing car. The Dale Coyne Racing team has been devoted to replacing a damaged fuel injector in order to preserve their potential grid position earned in Saturday’s qualifying. While Justin Wilson might be saved from loosing starting position, Oriol Servia will suffer the IZOD INDYCAR’s 10-grid spot penalty after the Lotus engine of his #22 car stopped in early in practice.

Simona de Silvestro completed the second-most laps over the course on Friday. In both sessions at Barber Motorsports Park, the #78 Lotus-powered race machine recorded 32 laps with the majority coming in the late morning practice. The Swiss driver’s fastest time was only 20^th on the speed charts leading to desire that the remainder of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama weekend could turn the fortunes of de Silvestro and the HVM Racing team. Of the Lotus-powered Dallaras, Sebastien Bourdais recorded the fastest time around the 2.3-mile road course at 1 minute, 12.4818 seconds for Lotus Dragon Racing. With Bourdais in the #7 car for the Lotus Dragon Racing team, rookie teammate Katherine Legge ended the day at the bottom of the IZOD INDYCAR competitor’s time chart for Friday. Legge’s fastest time in the #6 car was more than five seconds off the speed of Will Power.

Preview: 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Photo Credit: Dan Helrigel

The Notes and Know:

The Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg marked the first time that the Dallara DW12 was unleashed with the opening of the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR competition. This weekend, the brand new race car will roam the sweeping, twisty road course of Barber Motorsports Park. The visit to the 2.38-mile Barber Motorsports Park road course early in the season for the IZOD INDYCAR Series will be the third year in a row. Unlike the temporary St Petersburg street course, the race track of Barber Motorsports Park has already been lapped by the new race cars through a multi-day test session in 2012 IZOD INDYCAR pre-season.

After the first-ever event with the updated racing vehicles, the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series' return to a multi-engine formula appeared to have contributed to a higher than accustomed to rate of mechanical issues for some race competitors compared to season INDYCAR seasons. The elevation changes and the high-speed turns of Barber Motorsports Park will provide another unique test for the new Dallara open wheel race cars. In a contentious engine battle between Chevrolet, Honda and Lotus, Chevy has claimed the initial upper hand when Helio Castroneves guided a Penske-owned vehicle to victory at St Petersburg.

For fans, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama should provide an interesting spectacle. All 26 cars that debuted in the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series opener will be present at Barber Motorsports Park. Will Power will be looking to defend his pole which led to a flag-to-flag victory at last year's Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.


Barber Motorsports Park
Birmingham, Alabama
Track Type: 17-turn road course
Track Distance: 2.38 Miles
Race Length: 90 laps/214.2 miles
Race Time: 2:00 PM Eastern

2011 Defending Race Winner: Will Power


IZOD INDYCAR Entry List

	Car #	Driver	Driver Nationality	Race Team	Engine Supplier
1	2	Ryan Briscoe	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
2	3	Helio Castroneves	Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet
3	4	JR Hildebrand	United States	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
4	5	EJ Viso	Venezuela	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
5	6	Katherine Legge	England	Lotus-Dragon Racing	Lotus
6	7	Sebastien Bourdais	France	Lotus-Dragon Racing	Lotus
7	8	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
8	9	Scott Dixon	New Zealand	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
9	10	Dario Franchitti	Scotland	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	11	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
11	12	Will Power	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
12	14	Mike Conway	England	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda
13	15	Takuma Sato	Japan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
14	18	Justin Wilson	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
15	19	James Jakes	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
16	20	Ed Carpenter	United States	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
17	22	Oriol Servia	Spain	Lotus-Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Lotus
18	26	Marco Andretti	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
19	27	James Hinchcliffe	Canada	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
20	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
21	38	Graham Rahal	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
22	67	Josef Newgarden	United States	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda
23	77	Smon Pagenaud	France	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	Honda
24	78	Simona de Silvestro	Switzerland	Lotus-HVM Racing	Lotus
25	83	Charlie Kimball	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
26	98	Alex Tagliani	Canada	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Lotus

Indy Grand Prix of Alabama Qualifying Sees Will Power Up Front

Photo Credit: Steve Swope/Penske Racing

Will Power flies to a second straight pole for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season. Lapping the Barber Motorsports Park 2.38 mile road course a 1 minute, 10.1356 seconds
Driving his #12 Verizon-sponsored Penske Racing car, Power's top time almost mirrored his fastest effort during Friday practice. As qualifying concluded, the #12 Penske Racing car was almost a mile per hour average faster than the performance of his closest time trial rival.

Starting on the front row, sophomore driver Mike Conway impressed by recording the 2nd fastest time. Through a drastic pick-up from Friday practice, the #24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing flew to time of 1 minute, 10.6510 seconds. Only his 3rd career appearance in the Firestone Fast Six, Conway run is also his best qualifying result entering into only his 20th IndyCar race.

Another Penske Racing car which backed-up on the Friday performance the #3 of Helio Castroneves. Snatching 3rd in the timed session, Castroneves commented on starting near the top of the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Alabama grid saying "It's always important to qualify upfront, no matter what place. But certainly here it seems to be a very challenging place." Also acknowledging in a post-qualifying press conference that pit strategy will be an unknown for many teams, Helio Castroneves props up his team saying "We'll continue doing very, very well. But for the No. 3 guys, we are stepping up every race, so hopefully tomorrow will be a good day for us.".

Wrapping up the Firestone Fast Six is Andretti Autosport's Marco Andretti, Scott Dixon Target/Chip Ganassi, and Japanese rookie Takuma Sato driving for KV Racing. Fourth place in the session Marco Andretti was asked in post-qualifying about the obvious small gains in Andretti Autosport. Responding to what changes have been made to Andretti Autosport, Marco Andretti responded "Making the car's comfortable for us to drive. The difference is, and the thing I've personally been pushing for in the off‑season is you listen to your drivers a bit more than what the computer tells them." After qualifying, Scott Dixon seemed mildly impressed with his #9 car. "So surprised we made it into the Fast Six with just how the car is handling. But we'll take another stab at it tonight and hopefully try and make a few changes for the warm‑up, and get some consistency back in the car, especially for the race tomorrow." Dixon said.


The inaugural running of the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is set for Sunday April 11th at 3:30 p.m. airing on the Versus in the United States and TSN in Canada.


2010 Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
IZOD IndyCar Series
Qualifying Results

1) #12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
2) #24 Mike Conway/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
3) #3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
4) #26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
5) #9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
6) #5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
7) #10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
8) #11 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ Andretti Autosport
9) #6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
10) #8 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
11) #22 Justin Wilson/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
12) #32 Mario Moraes/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
13) #78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland HVM Racing
14) #37 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/ Andretti Autosport
15) #67 Graham Rahal/United States/ Sarah Fisher Racing
16) #19 Alex Lloyd/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
17) #06 Hideki Mutoh/ Japan/ Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
18) #2 Raphael Matos/Brazil/ Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports
19) #7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
20) #14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Enterprises
21) #77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ FAZZT Race Team
22) #34 Mario Romancini/Brazil/ Conquest Racing
23) #4 Dan Wheldon/England/ Panther Racing
24) #18 Milka Duno/Venezuela/ Dale Coyne Racing
25) #36 Bertrand Baguette/Belgium/ Conquest Racing

Will Power Bests Field in Friday Practice for Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Photo Credit: Dan Helrigel

Starting their season running on the urban confides of two street courses in Sao Paulo and St Petersberg, the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season proceeds for the first time to Alabama state to race at the modern Barber Motorsports park. Offering a one-race break from temporary street courses, the 2.38 mile Barber Motorsports Park provides a challenging array of winding, high-speed corners and multiple elevation changes. Winning the first two events kicking off the 2010 schedule Verizon Penske Racing driverWill Power, who ran only a limited schedule in 2009, is vastly becoming the prime 2010 contender for the championship title. With the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama only the 3rd race on the 17-race 2010 IZOD IndyCar tour

After the 2 practice sessions, Will Power weaved his #12 Verizon Penske Racing car around the 17 turn road course in the quickest circuit of the first day. Lapping the course at 1 minute, 11.1857 seconds, this time is more than a second slower than the benchmark time Power set in February when IndyCar teams tested on the 17-turn track. Reflecting back to the Barber Motorsports Park test, the Verizon Penske Racing trio held the fastest three positions leaving the road course. In the Friday return to the race track, Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe found the competition has closed in for at least day 1 practice sessions. The #6 Penske car of Helio Castroneves held close by his teammate Power achieving a just 18/100ths of a second slower than the top recorded time for 3rd place on the day. In 7th overall after two practices, the third Penske Racing driver Ryan Briscoe commented "We did not quite find the balance that we were looking for today. We did find a good direction for tomorrow.".



Providing a challenge to Penske Racing, Andretti Autosport's driver Tony Kanaan rocketed his #11 7/11 car to second fastest. Showing constant top-3 pace through practice and qualifying in the two presiding rounds of the IZOD IndyCar season, Tony Kanaan has yet to capture a race finish equaling the Andretti Autosport car's speed. Fellow Andretti Autosport comrade Marco Andretti also finished strong on the first day practice. 5th fastest, Marco Andretti vowed confidently about his team's work in preparing the #26 Venom Energy Honda-powered Dallara. "We've made the Venom car better today and are only a couple minor changes away from being a pole contender." Andretti said in a late day comment. Other two Andretti Autosport efforts for the day saw Ryan Hunter-Reay in 11th and Danica Patrick placing 19th.



Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney

Presenting himself as a factor on race day both times this season, Scott Dixon fight has been closing the deal in the final laps. Driving his Target Chip Ganassi Racing #9, Dixon was recorded 4th fastest time which is 7 spots higher than teammate Dario Franchitti.

Debuting on his first IndyCar event, newcomer Bertrand Baguette got acquainted with his #36 Conquest Racing Dallara-Honda but was second-last on the 25 car speed chart after Friday. However, it is also interesting to note that the other rookie driver for Conquest Racing, Mario Romancini, would be just one spot higher than Baguette.

On Saturday, the one and a half hour qualifying session is set to roll at 9:20 AM local time at the Birmingham, Alabama track.

Preview: 2010 IZOD IndyCar Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar

Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Track Type: Permanent Road Course
Year Opened: 2003
Track Length: 2.38 Mile
Number of Turns: 17

First IndyCar Race: 2010
Number of Laps: 90 laps
Race Distance: 214.2 miles

2009 Polesitter: NA

2009 Podium

NA


2010 IndyCar Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg Entry List

06 Hideki Mutoh/ Japan/ Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing
2 Raphael Matos/Brazil/ Luczo Dragon/de Ferran Motorsports
3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
4 Dan Wheldon/England/ Panther Racing
5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
8 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
11 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ Andretti Autosport
12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Enterprises
18 Milka Duno/Venezuela/ Dale Coyne Racing
19 Alex Lloyd/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
22 Justin Wilson/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
24 Mike Conway/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
32 Mario Moraes/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
34 Mario Romancini/Brazil/ Conquest Racing
36 Bertrand Baguette/Belgium/ Conquest Racing
37 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/ Andretti Autosport
67 Graham Rahal/United States/ Sarah Fisher Racing
77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ FAZZT Race Team
78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland HVM Racing

Test at Barber Motorsports Park Ignites Spark for 2010 IZOD IndyCar Season

Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar


With various changes shaping the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series (the first of which being the IZOD title sponsor), the race teams of the upcoming season are eager to determine how their off-season structuring measures up to their rival competitors. Barber Motorsports Park, braced to hold their first IndyCar Series race on April 11th, played host to the most significant open test for the open wheel racing teams before the green flag falls on the 2010 IndyCar series on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil. With the number of road courses exceeding the ovals for the first time since the IRL-based open wheel tour was founded in 1996, the mastery of left and right turning will prove pivotal to the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series Championship.


Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar


Of course, the powerhouse teams of Penske Racing and Target/Chip Ganassi Racing are the likely benchmarks for the field after dominating the IndyCar tour last season. Only Dale Coyne Racing's broke through the superteam stranglehold in 2009 when Justin Wilson's pulled off the upset win at Waltkins Glen. At Barber Motorsports Park, the Penske Racing team appears more even more prepared than their best efforts of 2009. Unveiling their new look livery, the 3 Penske pilots of 2010 were among 3 of the top 4 cars residing on the peak of the time charts. In two practice sessions, Ryan Briscoe was the fastest car in the first day of testing blistering around the 17-turn, 2.3 mile complex in 1 minute and 10.5052 seconds. With a top time just two-tenths of a second slower than Briscoe is Penske Racing teammate Helio Castroneves. Besides posting fast speeds, both Penske runners ran more than 60 laps in shaking down their Dallara-Honda race cars. Completing Penske's triple threat to the 2010 championship, Will Power was 4th quickest overall in the first day test. Planted 3rd in the test time sheet surrounded by the Penske Racing machines is Justin Wilson, readying his debut with the #22 Dreyer/Reinhold Racing car in just a few weeks.

On this first of two days of testing for the IZOD IndyCar teams, Target/Chip Ganassi Racing with defending series champion Dario Franchitti are running respectable though not excellent times. Franchitti's best time was only good enough for 9th on the day but Scott Dixon rode a quarter of a second quicker clocked 5th overall.

Showing some serious promise with drivers who were signed just under a week ago, KV Racing Technology cars fared favourably so far. Led by EJ Viso recording a 6th fastest time, IndyCar rookie Takuma Sato was only one position behind has KV Racing teammate. Sato also tied in recording the most laps completed in the test with 70 laps (Conquest Racing's rookie Mario Romancini also ran 70 laps).


Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar

A continuance of a trend through this winter season which played a factor in the 2010 Speedweeks action in Daytona, climate in the usually more temperate south have led to lower than average temperatures. In the Birmingham area, low temperatures were beneath the freezing mark and only peaked at 47 degrees Fahrenheit. In comparison, the 2010 Olympic Winter Games weather in Vancouver, British Columbia were pegged at just degrees lower than the high at Barber Motorsports Park. The colder than normal temperatures that were forecasted for Birmingham, Alabama provoked FAZZT Race Team to decide in favour of sitting out the open test altogether. With the second test session being faster in the slightly warmer afternoon weather, all cars set their fast times during the 2nd practice with exception to Mike Conway. Setting 4th fastest time in the earlier practice session, Conway's run in the #24 car was only 17th for the day.


Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar

The more practice sessions for the 2010 IZOD IndyCar series runners are scheduled for Thursday at Barber Motorsports Park with weather conditions mirroring the Wednesday session.