IndyCar: Saturday morning update from Barber

Can Andretti Autosport find the right setup today?

Today is a much different day than Friday was. The sun is shinning and the temperature is expected to be 80 degrees today and tomorrow. So we should see the drivers take to track more consistently, getting ready to qualify this afternoon at 3 pm local time.

The thunderstorms that moved through yesterday had the drivers waiting to go out until all of the track was dry. With the elevation changes on the track, the water runs off but collects in certain spots. So for the second practice, you saw the two cars of AJ Foyt Racing on the top of the charts. Their team tested here in March.

A content Jack Hawksworth had this to say after his run. "I love this place. It's one of the few tracks we go to where you really get a sense of what an IndyCar can do in terms of performance of the car. We go to street circuits, ovals, very different techniques, various different driving styles and tricky things you have to do to be quick, but when you come to this track, just from an enjoyment perspective, I think you get more out of it than anywhere else just on the basis that you're going through these big undulations and elevation changes, fast corners, and it's just so much fun. You realize how much grip these cars have got, and you get other cars around this track, it's a lot of fun."

Takuma Sato had this to say about sharing the setup of the Foyt cars. "We share the data all the time for sure. Jack and I are working together to build to make the car faster, and today we could see the achievement that the whole engineering did a lot of studies and then preparation after the spring test, which usually very cold here, but it's only a month ago, and it was pretty warm testing, a similar event for today's testing, so everything was working pretty good."

Simon Pagenaud, still smiling after his win this past Sunday in Long Beach, had this to say about the track, " I like the racing here because especially on restarts, you get a lot of opportunities to run side by side in Turn 1, Turn 2, Turn 5, even entry of Turn 8, so the first lap is very exciting. You can make a move. The weather every year is playing a card, as well, and I kind of like that. That's racing. You've got to play with the elements, and I remember I think it was 2014 when it rained at the beginning of the race and then it was dry at the end. I just love that kind of racing. I wouldn't mind a weekend like that."

IndyCar also announced the Fast Six session of qualifying will now be only 6 minutes instead of ten minutes. Last weekend, Will Power caused a red flag in the Fast Six session and a minute was added to the session. So the cars went out for another timed lap. Juan Montoya voiced his opinion that the five minutes of guaranteed green time had been fulfilled and he did not understand why they were given another lap. The extra time moved Montoya back from second to fifth for the race.

The first practice will be at 11 am Central Time today and unlike yesterday's practice sessions which were an hour and 15 minutes, this morning the drivers have just 45 minutes to prepare for this afternoon's qualifying.

Lucille Dust reporting from Barber Motorsports Park