Infineon: Castroneves tops practice 2
Castroneves, who finished second at Infineon last year, lapped the 12-turn, 2.303-mile circuit in 1 minute, 17.1703 seconds, 107.435 mph in the afternoon session, bettering Tony Kanaan’s effort of 1:17.3920, 107.127 mph from the morning.
KV Racing Technology teammates Oriol Servia and Will Power were third and fourth, respectively. Scott Dixon, who leads Castroneves by 78 points in the championship, was seventh.
Castroneves’ teammate Ryan Briscoe, who also had his primary car damaged in the fire, was sixth.
One second covered the first 13 drivers so passing on Sunday will be difficult because of how equal they are.
Afternoon Results
|
Pos |
Driver | Diff to 1st | Gap to Prev | Best Time | Best Speed | Best Lap |
| 1 | Helio Castroneves (3) | –.—- | –.—- | 1:17.1703 | 107.435 | 23 |
| 2 | Oriol Servia (5) | 0.3009 | 0.3009 | 1:17.4712 | 107.018 | 22 |
| 3 | Will Power (8) | 0.4148 | 0.1139 | 1:17.5851 | 106.861 | 5 |
| 4 | Vitor Meira (4) | 0.5533 | 0.1385 | 1:17.7236 | 106.670 | 20 |
| 5 | Ryan Briscoe (6) | 0.5630 | 0.0097 | 1:17.7333 | 106.657 | 6 |
| 6 | Scott Dixon (9) | 0.7124 | 0.1494 | 1:17.8827 | 106.452 | 6 |
| 7 | Marco Andretti (26) | 0.7314 | 0.0190 | 1:17.9017 | 106.426 | 4 |
| 8 | Danica Patrick (7) | 0.7642 | 0.0328 | 1:17.9345 | 106.382 | 17 |
| 9 | Hideki Mutoh (27) | 0.8108 | 0.0466 | 1:17.9811 | 106.318 | 6 |
| 10 | Justin Wilson (02) | 0.8745 | 0.0637 | 1:18.0448 | 106.231 | 6 |
| 11 | Tony Kanaan (11) | 0.8969 | 0.0224 | 1:18.0672 | 106.201 | 7 |
| 12 | Bruno Junqueira (18) | 1.0085 | 0.1116 | 1:18.1788 | 106.049 | 2 |
| 13 | Ryan Hunter-Reay (17) | 1.0089 | 0.0004 | 1:18.1792 | 106.049 | 19 |
| 14 | Mario Dominguez (96) | 1.1468 | 0.1379 | 1:18.3171 | 105.862 | 22 |
| 15 | Enrique Bernoldi (36) | 1.1937 | 0.0469 | 1:18.3640 | 105.799 | 19 |
| 16 | EJ Viso (33) | 1.1947 | 0.0010 | 1:18.3650 | 105.797 | 3 |
| 17 | Mario Moraes (19) | 1.2602 | 0.0655 | 1:18.4305 | 105.709 | 5 |
| 18 | Buddy Rice (15) | 1.3240 | 0.0638 | 1:18.4943 | 105.623 | 19 |
| 19 | Tomas Scheckter (12) | 1.5204 | 0.1964 | 1:18.6907 | 105.359 | 21 |
| 20 | Graham Rahal (06) | 1.5308 | 0.0104 | 1:18.7011 | 105.345 | 12 |
| 21 | Ed Carpenter (20) | 1.8103 | 0.2795 | 1:18.9806 | 104.973 | 20 |
| 22 | Townsend Bell (23) | 1.9122 | 0.1019 | 1:19.0825 | 104.837 | 11 |
| 23 | AJ Foyt IV (2) | 2.2574 | 0.3452 | 1:19.4277 | 104.382 | 16 |
| 24 | Jaime Camara (34) | 2.6656 | 0.4082 | 1:19.8359 | 103.848 | 15 |
| 25 | Darren Manning (14) | 2.9226 | 0.2570 | 1:20.0929 | 103.515 | 6 |
| 26 | Marty Roth (25) | 3.0757 | 0.1531 | 1:20.2460 | 103.317 | 21 |
| 27 | Dan Wheldon (10) | 0.0000 | 0.0000 | -0.0001 | 0.000 | 0 |
Combined AM and PM Results
1. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 107.435
2. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 107.127
3. (5) Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 107.018
4. (8) Will Power, Dallara-Honda, 106.861
5. (4) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Honda, 106.670
6. (6) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Honda, 106.657
7. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 106.452
8. (7) Danica Patrick, Dallara-Honda, 106.449
9. (26) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 106.426
10. (27) Hideki Mutoh, Dallara-Honda, 106.318
11. (02) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 106.231
12. (18) Bruno Junqueira, Dallara-Honda, 106.049
13. (17) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 106.049
14. (96) Mario Dominguez, Dallara-Honda, 105.862
15. (36) Enrique Bernoldi, Dallara-Honda, 105.799
16. (33) E.J. Viso, Dallara-Honda, 105.797
17. (15) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Honda, 105.735
18. (19) Mario Moraes, Dallara-Honda, 105.709
19. (10) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 105.404
20. (12) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Honda, 105.359
21. (06) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 105.345
22. (20) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Honda, 105.330
23. (23) Townsend Bell, Dallara-Honda, 104.837
24. (2) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Honda, 104.382
25. (34) Jaime Camara, Dallara-Honda, 103.848
26. (14) Darren Manning, Dallara-Honda, 103.515
27. (25) Marty Roth, Dallara-Honda, 103.317
QUOTES:
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske, first): “If there is a team that knows how to rebound it's Team Penske. Again they did a fantastic job. They tried to make sure I don't feel a difference, and to be honest, I don't. The car is basically the same. I keep joking that the seat that I loved burned up, but the one I have here is very similar. It's a good start for what's been a tough two days. To finish the day (in P1) is a great deal, but tomorrow is a bigger deal and so is the race, so we're going to keep working hard." (Are you surprised): "Not really. We tested here last week for the first time since about January. I didn't test, but Ryan (Briscoe) tested. Actually, it wasn't even Ryan, it was Romain Dumas. It just proves that a little bit of laps around this place helps a lot. We may not have gone fast, but it helps eliminate some things you may have tried today. It was just one lap, but I tell you, everyone will come back tomorrow and try to go fast again."
TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven, second): “It was a good day for the Team 7-Eleven guys. We worked on the qualifying setup in the morning, and we concentrated on the race in the afternoon session. I’m pretty pleased with how today went. We’re going to try and maximize our situation and finish as high as we can in the championship. I’m just working on winning some more races for the team. After you win the championship, finishing second, third, fourth, or fifth I don’t think will make a big difference. Obviously we are working toward a real possibility that there will be a big fight between me and Dan (Wheldon) for the third position in the championship. If you look at Helio (Castroneves) and (Scott) Dixon, they are so consistent right now that I think it’s going to be really difficult to catch them, so I’m focused on winning races."
ORIOL SERVIA (No. 5 KV Racing Technology, third): “It helped KV Racing Technology to come here to test last week. It brought us closer to the established teams, which is where we want to be, but we still need to keep working. It’s getting very close to the end of the season and everyone is very eager to win. So it is good that we are in the ballpark (for the pole). We still have all day tomorrow and then the race on Sunday before it is decided. Until then, we will keep on learning and trying new things with the car. Overall, I am happy with the progress we are making."
WILL POWER (No. 8 Aussie Vineyards-Team Australia, fourth): “It was very difficult to get a good lap in with so many cars on track, but the Aussie Vineyards–Team Australia car was quick. We still need to work some things out to make the car a little bit better. Our aim for tomorrow is to not only make the Firestone Fast Six, but to be right up at the front."
VITOR MEIRA (No. 4 Delphi National Guard, fifth): “We had a good day today in the Delphi National Guard car. We knew we would have a good package after the test last week, and luckily that translated into today. There was an issue this morning with our braking, but the Panther guys were able to fix that during the break, and you could see how quick we were this afternoon. We’re happy with fifth (position) overall in practice today and look forward to making a run at the Firestone Fast Six tomorrow."
RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, sixth): “Today, we mainly worked on our qualifying setup. Qualifying on road courses this year has been really competitive, so we want to be sure that we know what we have in the car for tomorrow. We're happy with the car even though we weren't at the top of the speed charts. We put on a new set of tires right before the end of the session, but we were unable to post a time. We'll just continue working in the morning and hope for the best come qualifying in the afternoon. I have to say that I'm super proud of our crew with the way that they have handled the adversity in the wake of the transporter fire. They have been working really hard since they landed yesterday to make sure that I have what I need in the car, and I have no complaints."
DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Motorola, eighth): “I am happy with the way the Motorola car did today in both practice sessions. We found some direction on some things that we needed, and I feel really good about the direction that the car is going. Hopefully we will continue to build from the practices into qualifying tomorrow. I am hopeful that the Motorola car will be in the Firestone Fast Six at the end of the day."
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 26 Blockbuster/Star Wars: The Clone Wars, ninth): “The Blockbuster/STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS car was not too bad today. I still think we have some room to improve. We had our best, most consistent balance at the end of the afternoon session. Once we are able to put new tires on that car, we should be able to be pretty good."
HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27 Formula Dream, 10th): “We had an electrical problem in the first practice session, and I made a mistake on the second session causing the Formula Dream Car to go off the track. Fortunately, the car wasn’t damaged and the car is getting better, so hopefully we will be able to have a good practice session tomorrow morning and do well in the qualifying."