The first of a two-day Open Test at Barber Motorsports Park provided a preview of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar season. Seven different teams were represented in the top 10 of the combined time sheet for the two sessions, and the top 18 of the 24 cars participating were separated by one second.
Australian Will Power of Penske Racing was quickest in both the morning and afternoon sessions at the Alabama road course, beating second-placed Scott Dixon (Ganassi) by half a tenth of a second. Justin Wilson ended up in third in the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car ahead of Penske's Helio Castroneves. All eyes were turned to newcomer James Hinchcliffe who was the second fastest driver of the morning ending up the day fifth overall; the Canadian still trying to finalize a deal with Newman-Haas Racing for the upcoming season. “This morning we had a solid car. I think half of the field put new tires on in the morning and we were one of them. Not a lot of guys in the top-10 did so it put us in the top, a little higher than maybe we should have been. The car was really good again this afternoon. I had a little bit of a spin which forced us to put our new tires on a little earlier in the day which was not the best time of the day to do that and we ran an all right time, a time good enough for P7. But what was incredible was that we made a really good change later and matched it on tires that were about 15 laps old,” said Hinchcliffe. Another Canadian was in the top 10 as Alex Tagliani, now working for Sam Schmidt Motorsports, got acquainted with his new squad. “I think we found some really interesting things in the car that were helpful. We're still not where we want to be, but we know that and we're aware of it, so it's no big deal, and we're not racing, yet. Today was a huge testing item program for us and I think ninth, considering we just threw bits at it, is pretty decent,” said Tagliani.
Recent Articles
|
Racing Multimedia
Recommendations |