Dixon tops 2nd GP of Indy practice (Update)

UPDATE

Scott Dixon

Dixon, driving the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, recorded a best lap of 1 minute, 10.4654 seconds on the course that was revised from the one used in the past by Formula One, MotoGP and sports cars.

Five different teams were represented in the top five of the 45-minute session, and the top 24 cars were separated by less than a second under a canopy of blue sky and summer-like temperature.

Each of the three Verizon IndyCar Series races this season has had a different pole sitter and winner.

Simon Pagenaud was second in the session – 0.0191 of a second back – in the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports car, while series championship points leader Will Power was third (1:10.5672) in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske entry. Sebastien Bourdais, driving the No. 11 Mistic KVSH Racing car, was quickest in the morning session (1:10.5150) and third overall.

QUOTES

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “The cars are on a knife edge. The straights are so long that you’re trimming the car out to levels that I think we’ve only seen once before in Brazil on a street course with another really long straight. That there makes it tough, the window of being on the edge and going for the quick time is uncomfortably small, but it’s a lot of fun. You’re constantly chasing the track, and the conditions, today it is very windy, tomorrow it might open up and rain, and then for the race, I hope everyone comes out for that, but I like it. They did a hell of a job with this track."

MIKE CONWAY (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): “It was a tough day for us. We are struggling to get the grip level right now. We thought we had some things figured out at the test, but it didn’t work out today. It is very exciting to run the road circuit at IMS for the first time. It’s a beautiful circuit. I think it will be a very entertaining venue for the race fans on Saturday. We’ll work hard overnight to improve the car and get it better for qualifications. There is rain in the forecast for Friday and that could change a lot of things for everyone here."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Verizon Team Penske): “The day was good. We tried a few things, some of them were a little crazy, but we’re trying to prepare for qualifying tomorrow. We weren’t as fast as we would have liked to be but we still have a practice session in the morning to work some things out. Overall, with today being our first official practice sessions on the road course I’m happy with where the No. 3 Verizon Chevy ended up. I really want to be the first winner of this race so we are going to give it all we have!"

CARLOS HUERTAS (No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): “We tried something at the front (of the car) in the second practice and it didn’t really work so it was hard to drive. We had some issues this morning on certain parts of the track and we tried to fix the car and we tried something different and it didn’t really work at all. I am getting comfortable with the track but we need to get the car working the way I want to. That is the biggest problem at the moment."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 National Guard Honda): “I think we are starting to figure some things out with the National Guard car. We’re getting it into a better zone, and definitely more competitive. I’m proud of these guys for keeping their heads down and getting it done. There is still work to be done but its work to be done coming from sixth (in afternoon session) versus coming from the back which is a good change for us. Hopefully we can improve on Friday, hopefully it will stay dry and we’ll see what happens." (About the track): “It’s (track) fast. I think that’s what this place has over others. This is the fastest road course that we will go to this season. The top speed is 196, 197 mph which is pretty quick for these things on a road course. I’m pretty impressed. The facilities are phenomenal as you would expect; this is Indy. It’s IndyCar Country and I hope the fans come out and support this. It’s by far the closest field you have seen in IndyCar history this weekend. It’s very, very competitive."

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 16 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda): “Graham and I started the day with the same setup and had the exact same grip on the car but in the second practice, we tried two different solutions and I think Graham is happy with his and I wasn’t happy at all. It’s a benefit of having two cars. I’m pretty sure we will end up moving towards the solutions the National Guard team found." (About changes to the track since the Open Test:) “They have done a good job finishing all of the small details. They painted the curbs and they look great. It’s funny how just a little bit of color and aesthetics change the whole feel. They’ve painted the curbs in three different color tones which look really nice. I’m sure the fans are going to like it and they will look great on TV."

MARTIN PLOWMAN (No. 41 Alfe/ABC Supply Honda): “I love this track, It's really going to create a lot of good racing come Saturday — really long straights, heavy braking in the turns, so many technical parts of the track, too, so it's got a good flow to it." (Have you done many standing starts?) It's been a very, very long time ago. I think the last time I did a standing start was July of 2008, back in my Junior Formula days. Then we had a manual clutch and a sequential gearbox, so it was all in the feel of your feet. Now we have to do it with paddle shifts and paddle clutches. I'm just going to focus on not stalling it."

TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply/A.J. Foyt Racing Honda): “We are really enjoying the new layout. With the turns and the layout, the Speedway did a really good job. The car was not quite what we wanted in the first run. We should be able to find more speed with this program, but today we were a little bit down. I think we'll be OK with the standing start by this time. We did some last year and we had one at Long Beach this year. I do like a standing start, but we need to get it just right."

James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda
"Solid first day, I guess. This is a tricky track to set up for. It's kind of the trim wars right now out there on figuring out what the right downforce level is. The weather's changing a lot, the track's still changing a lot, so at the end of the day, we're pretty pleased to have the United Fiber & Data car in the top five. It's hard to get that lap time, so we need to work on a race car that's good and consistent. We're not sure what the weather's going to do tomorrow-could very well be rain, and that throws a whole wrench in for qualifying, but race day is what pays the points, and that's what we're trying to work on today. I think we're going in the right direction."

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 28 DHL Honda
"It was a good day for all the Andretti Autosport cars. I think we are all very competitive. It's going to be a mix of getting down the straights, versus getting through the corners, downforce versus low drag. I think we have a good car right now, so we'll see how tomorrow goes with this weather they are expecting rain wise."

Marco Andretti, No. 25 Snapple Honda
"I think we definitely have a clearer picture after practice two, than practice one. I think our potential is definitely better; I hit the tub in Turn 8. I got too much curb, so we lost two and a half tenths on a quick lap which if you give me that that is right where we need to be. Looking for a good day in qualifying tomorrow for the Snapple team."

Carlos Munoz, No. 34 Cinsay Honda
"I think we are looking pretty good for tomorrow. It seems that the weather is going to be different from today, so everything's going to change, but I think we're pretty solid. In IndyCar you have to time it really well, putting everything together. Tomorrow we'll see how it is. If it's raining, obviously it will be a lot different tomorrow."

Franck Montagny, No. 26 Suretone Honda
"It's not too bad after two years off-just seven-tenths off-but we're still not there, not where we would like to be. It's not where an Andretti car should be. I'm giving my best, and I hope tomorrow's going to be better after one night off. It's always good when you get in the car after a long while to have a break to think about things. So I hope tomorrow will be better, but today I'm a little disappointed. I'm happy with the car; I like the job that we've done, but I don't like to see P20 on the monitor."

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): "I think we found a little bit of performance. The car feels a little bit better but there is still more to come. I'm not completely happy with the car yet, we have to keep searching and I think we'll get there. We have a couple of ideas. I like this track. It's a lot of fun to drive. It's pretty high commitment for such a low downforce track."

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “The track was pretty hot today, so we had to change the car over a little bit from what we had in the test session last week. Last week was frigid compared to what we have for conditions today. We spent the first session just trying to figure out what we needed because it was almost like starting over. I felt we really gained a lot in the second session. It’s hard to judge where we are because I think other teams used more tires than we did. We haven’t really used any tires today so it doesn’t really show how good we are, but I think we have a really good No. 2 Verizon Chevrolet."

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 11 Hydroxycut KVSH Racing): “It was a very good day for the Mistic E-Cigs team until the last run. We tried something on new tires and it didn’t work out, but overall the car was really strong. The Mistic crew did a really good job. We were kind of tippy toeing through the changes trying to see what we could get, but it is supposed to rain tomorrow so everything goes back up in the air and we will see where we land."

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet): “We made some huge steps forward from practice one to practice two. The speed was there in practice one, but we just didn’t quite get the lap time we wanted. We’re really focused on getting as much work in terms of setup on the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet done today because the weather looks a little uncertain for tomorrow. We’ll just have to react to those conditions, but the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys are ready rain or shine. We’ll be in good shape for qualifying and focused on getting a good starting position for the Inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis on Saturday."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 8 NTT DATA Chevrolet): “I’m pretty happy with how today went. I mean our lap time doesn’t really show how good of a day we actually had. We did some race prep when the track was getting faster so we probably missed putting together a fast lap time when the track was at its quickest. We just spent a lot of our time today doing laps and getting adjusted to these hot conditions since it is so much warmer here today than it was when we tested last week. Hopefully once we trim it back and get it ready for qualifying, we’ll have the speed."

TONY KANAAN (No. 10 GE Reveal Chevrolet): “We had a good day today overall. Not where we wanted to be speed-wise but we are improving the Lexar car. We had to make some changes between sessions today to stop the brakes from locking. I think we have everything until control now and are headed in the right direction for qualifying tomorrow."

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "The No. 12 Verizon Chevy team did a great job today and at the end there the car was definitely getting close to where we need it to be. Overall, we had a good day. We definitely made some gains and have a little bit more to go. Tomorrow, I think the weather will be a lot different than today, but we'll do our best."

MIKHAIL ALESHIN (No. 7 SMP Racing Honda): (On being a Russian IndyCar Driver living in Indianapolis) “Well, about Indy, I mean, it's hard to compare because it's a different country, first of all. Yeah, different traditions. Many different things. But I think I really like the people here, that's for sure. Everybody is very nice, very friendly. I think that's very important when you change the place where you live like I did this year. IndyCar was never showed on Russian TV so much. We had a couple Indy 500 races a long time ago. But from this year it is on TV already, so people start to follow. Actually, they start to open this category also, and they comparing it to Formula One. Actually, a lot of people say to me it's a little bit more interesting in case of fighting, activity on the track, which I can actually completely agree. Yeah, for example, for the 500 race, there is a lot of media coming here from Russia, as well."

SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Racing Honda): “It's a nice racetrack. It's flowing. There's a nice rhythm to it. It's in Indy, it's at home. It feels good. The cars are nice to drive here, the IndyCars. It's the smoothest track we go to. I have to thank IMS for doing a good job for us."

05/08/14 Target Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon turned the fastest lap late in the session to lead Thursday's afternoon practice session for the inaugural GP of Indianapolis.

Simon Pagenaud was second and Will Power slotted in third.

Rookie Mikhail Aleshin was 4th and James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top-5.

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “The cars are on a knife edge. The straights are so long that you’re trimming the car out to levels that I think we’ve only seen once before in Brazil on a street course with another really long straight. That there makes it tough, the window of being on the edge and going for the quick time is uncomfortably small, but it’s a lot of fun. You’re constantly chasing the track, and the conditions, today it is very windy, tomorrow it might open up and rain, and then for the race, I hope everyone comes out for that, but I like it. They did a hell of a job with this track."

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