Chevy dominates opening practice in St. Petersburg

Will Power

The first practice session of the Verizon Indy Cars began under threat of rain, but it was just a threat, the sun was in and out of the clouds throughout, and the temperature was a cool 77 degrees. It was interesting to watch the times with the new aero package, they were dropping consistently, with Juan Pablo Montoya getting down into the 101's early, along with Will Power.

There's a good possibility that this will be the only dry practice session today as the rain seems sure to arrive this afternoon. There were a couple of spins as the drivers tested the limits of adhesion on this street circuit, but all was well thanks to the forgiving runoff of the St. Petersburg circuit. The first practice session was very clean with no real situations to speak of, and the rain never came.

Will Power continued to show his strength laying down the fastest lap of this session. The top five spots are occupied by Chevrolet, with the top five practice times as listed:

1. W. Power 1:01.4709
2. J. Montoya 1:01.6996
3. H. Castroneves 1:01.7000
4. S. Dixon 1:01.7777
5. S. Bourdais 1:01.8439

The next Indy Car practice session will most likely be under rain conditions, and while this may not do much for set up at this weekend’s race, the data is still useful at a later date, at other tracks. We will keep you updated as the afternoon progresses. This is Wayde Alfarone, reporting live from St. Petersburg Florida.

Results (Click table to enlarge)