Hunter-Reay stays on top in P2 at Barber

Ryan Hunter-Reay off to a strong start at Barber.

Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay led practice 2 Friday afternoon for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. With a lap of 1:08.7836, the 2013 winner at Barber was 0.14 seconds ahead of second-place Sebastien Bourdais of KVSH Racing. Team Penske’s Will Power was third.

Hunter-Reay also paced the early session in the #28 DHL Honda as Honda-powered drivers posted three of the top five times in a pair of practice sessions around the scenic 2.3-mile Barber Motorsports Park road course in Birmingham, Ala.

Hunter-Reay led both the morning and afternoon practice sessions, in a tightly-packed field that saw just 1.1 seconds separating all 23 drivers.. The Verizon IndyCar Series will be back on track at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning for practice session 3, with qualifying scheduled for 2 p.m. ET, where Hunter-Reay will be looking to repeat his pole winning effort from 2013.

"It is quite a bit hotter than we’re used to here at Barber," said Hunter-Reay, who also won the Verizon P1 Award at Barber in 2013. "It takes some getting used to and the track conditions have certainly changed, but we’ve tested here quite a bit – we tested here in the offseason and we definitely can’t get enough of Barber. The Andretti Autosport car is great right now, we’re not where we want to be yet, but I expect to see all four of us up front (tomorrow)."

Sebastien Bourdais recorded a lap of 1:08.9331 to finish second in the afternoon session while Josef Newgarden, who last April jumped from the 22nd starting position to ninth (his first Verizon IndyCar Series top 10), was second in the morning session to place third overall.

Will Power, who won the race in 2011 and '12 was fourth at 1:08.9746 while James Hinchcliffe was fifth at 1:09.0036.

Quotes

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “The track was good – this is quite a bit hotter than we’re used to here at Barber. It takes some getting used to and the track conditions have certainly changed, but we’ve tested here quite a bit – we tested here in the offseason and we definitely can’t get enough of Barber. It’s going to be a little bit hotter (tomorrow) and the track temp is going to go up, so we’ll look at what we did her last year preparing for qualifying. The Andretti Autosport car is great right now, we’re not where we want to be yet, but I expect to see all four of us up front (tomorrow)."

Montoya

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): ““The PPG Chevy was really good in the first session. I was able to push it a little harder than I did at Long Beach and it looked like it we were making big gains. For some reason the speed fell off in the afternoon. Not sure why that was but we’ll figure it out before qualifying tomorrow. Qualifying continues to be very important for us and tomorrow will be no different."

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): “We made a couple of changes after this morning, trying to make small, deliberate changes and it was a bit of a handful this afternoon. We’ll see what we missed and we’ll work on that, and hopefully we’ll have a better run at it tomorrow."

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 11 Mistic KVSH Racing Chevrolet): “We know how slick this place can be when it gets hot and how much tire degradation can be a factor. We come here (in March) and test for two days and it’s drizzling and it’s British weather in the 50s, no wind, and the track is awesome – and the car feels great and it’s super fast. And then we come back and the track is 125 degrees, and it’s gusty, and you’re like, ‘Is this the same car?’ You’re two seconds slower and you’re P1. And that’s interesting. I think it’s very difficult to anticipate what might happen; the track might not pick up any speed at all and it’s getting very slick out there. We’ll see what happens."

Mike Conway

MIKE CONWAY (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): “It’s been a busy time since the win at Long Beach. I flew back to the UK for the WEC race at Silverstone, Unfortunately, the sponsorship for the LMP2 effort didn’t come through for the race so I didn’t drive. But I did get to see the Toyota Hybrid P1 team place 1-2 there. I helped with the testing on that car so it felt good to be there and watch the win. I then flew back to Scottsdale and moved from my house to a condo on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday, I flew to Birmingham for a media day on Thursday, so it felt good to get back in the race car today. We didn’t have the grip level in the practice sessions that we wanted. This place is challenging and tough to get everything just right. But we’ll work overnight and be ready for Saturday’s practice and qualifying."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 AAA Southern California Chevrolet): “The AAA Chevrolet has good speed so far this weekend. The speed is there to qualify well and to contend for the win on Sunday. I really enjoy racing at the place and we know how to win here. We took a race off last year but it’s time to put Team Penske back in Victory Lane."

TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Honda): "The conditions are quite a bit different from the Open Test; it's a lot warmer so the tire grip is acting differently. We didn't get a good feel for the setup in the morning session because there were so many red flags. In the afternoon, we tried to find what we had in the test but we're not there yet. We have to work pretty hard tonight."

CARLOS HUERTAS (No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): "Today was okay. I am only a second off the pace on my first day so it is not bad. This is a challenging circuit, it is pretty difficult to get it all together and also the setup is quite tricky. We still have to adjust the car a bit more. I hope we get things set to give it a good go this weekend."

ORIOL SERVIA (No. 16 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda): “We improved the car from the first to second session but at the end (of Practice 2) we got derailed a little bit by a downshift issue and separate fuel pressure issue. But I’m still not happy with the car. I think we still have a lot to gain by finding the right setup. This place is very hard on the tires so if you are a little bit off on balance, it will just eat one end or the other. It’s tough, we just need to keep at it. That’s what we did at Long Beach and by race day we had one of the best cars out there. I’m still confident we can do that here."

TONY KANAAN (No. 10 GE Reveal Chevrolet): “Well we really didn’t know what we had to start within the GE Reveal car because of all the problems in the first session with cars going off and causing red flags. It was frustrating to say the least. Every time you thought you were able to get something going, the red flag would come out again and stop the session. We struggled today with the setup and will go back to see what the rest of the team is doing and be ready for tomorrow."

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 17 AFS KVAFS Racing Chevrolet): "It’s been a positive first day for the KV AFS team. We showed strong pace. Everything is so tight here that if you don’t take advantage of tire life then you won’t get far and I think this is something I didn’t do with the second set. The track changed dramatically in this afternoon’s session, which everyone experienced. We will be working hard this weekend to set the car up to the ever changing track conditions."

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “The Verizon Chevy team didn't do bad today. We went through and made a few changes today but we will definitely have to think about what we can do a little bit different tomorrow so we can qualify at the top."

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda): “We were here for spring training and had a little bit of an idea of what to expect this weekend, of course the conditions are a bit different now which has a huge affect on the track. The team did a great job though, obviously Ryan (Hunter-Reay) was quickest both session. I’m happy with the United Fiber & Data Honda, but still a little bit of work to do for tomorrow."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Snapple Honda): “We weren’t as high on the charts as we wanted to be today and still have a few things to dial in on the Snapple car. But our teammates were quick and we are headed in the right direction. We’ll look at everything tonight and do our best to come ready for qualifying tomorrow."

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Hartman Oil/Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda): “It was a good day here at Barber. We are still working to figure out a few details in the setup but we have a very solid base after today and I feel confident about the rest of the weekend."

CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 34 Cinsay AndrettiTV.com HVM Honda): “I think things went pretty good today, the afternoon was better than the morning session. But things feel good, I think we have to work a little bit tonight. In Long Beach I improved a lot over the weekend so I hopefully I will do the same here. In the first session the track had much more grip so it was tougher, but we have a good idea of what to do for tomorrow."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 National Guard Honda): “We’re obviously still learning. There are still some things we have to figure out and some time to be found but at the end of the day, we aren’t that far off time-wise. You look at the time sheets and it looks like both of our cars are struggling but when you are only eight-tenths (of a second) off (fast time), yet you’re 19th, it’s a difficult thing. If you find less than one-tenth (of a second) a corner, you are right up there with those guys. That’s what we’ve got to do, just keep working and find more speed. I feel like there is potential here. We found some things that worked at the end of the session. I didn’t get the best out of my tire run. I don’t know what I did but the tires only lasted me a lap so I have to figure that out. Overall I think we will be alright."

MIKHAIL ALESHIN (No. 7 SMP Racing Honda): "It felt like we tried a ton of different set-ups in the car today, and we definitely found the one we'll use tomorrow for qualifications. The second practice definitely went better for me than the first and we were able to run way more green laps. The field is really tight and everyone's searching for that last bit of speed."

SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Racing Honda): "We come here testing in Barber testing every winter and it's usually really cold and the track is super fast. Today it's very hot and the track is very greasy. There's a lot of rubber from other series out there on the track and it's getting very slippery. We had to adjust the No. 77 car because of that but I'm happy – we're fast right now. We were P8 in practice two on old tires, so that's a good sign. We need to adjust the balance a little for tomorrow but we'll be right up there with the rest of the competition for qualifying."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 8 NTT DATA Chevrolet): “We had a really good second session with the NTT DATA Chevrolet. The first session we couldn’t really get much done with all the red flags, so it was nice to have a solid second session. The conditions are very different here this weekend than they were at the open test. It’s just a lot hotter so the track is a little more slippery. We’ve definitely got some challenges for qualifying tomorrow and some work to do over night, but I think we’ll have a fast car tomorrow."

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet): “It was good to finally get some good running in during that second session. We made some solid improvements to the car after the first session and we were able to save some tires to test those changes. We’re expecting tomorrow’s conditions during qualifying to be pretty similar to today’s, so we’ll have to make sure we’re ready for that. The work we did with Chevy and the whole Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew is the reason we’re making such steady improvements and we’re ready to get the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Chevrolet in the Firestone Fast 6 tomorrow."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chevrolet): “We had a very slow start to the weekend after not even getting to turn a lap in the morning session due to an electrical issue. It was frustrating for the Target guys to say the least, but we made good progress in the second session. We still have a lot of work to do but I like this track, we’ve been strong here in the past and I’m looking forward to qualifying tomorrow."

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