Ganassi trio leads unofficial timing at Infineon

UPDATE While they were in California for this weekend's 38th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, 13 IZOD IndyCar Series drivers took advantage of a day of testing on the Infineon Raceway road course April 9.

Honda- and Chevrolet-powered teams on the scenic course:

• Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves, Will Power (Team Penske)

• Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon (Target Chip Ganassi Racing)

• Charlie Kimball and Graham Rahal (Chip Ganassi Racing)

• Marco Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe (Andretti Autosport)

• Rubens Barrichello, Tony Kanaan, E.J. Viso (KV Racing Technology)

The daylong event was open to the public, which had the opportunity to interact with the drivers during the noontime break.

Franchitti posted the quickest lap at 1 minute, 17.2 seconds over the 12-turn, 2.303-mile road course. Kimball (1:17.4) and Rahal (1:17.5) followed, while Viso (1:17.80) and Kanaan (1:17.84) rounded out the top five. All times were reported by the drivers.

"I like this track very much," said Barrichello, who was sixth quickest (1:17.88). "It's very difficult with the blind apexes. It's good that I can test again, and every time I'm improving. A track like this is very good and it teaches me a lot."

04/10/12 Half of the field in the IZOD IndyCar Series tested Monday at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., although only one of the series' two "power teams" realistically laid down the hammer. Unofficial timing saw three Chip Ganassi Racing drivers at the top – Dario Franchitti quickest at a 1:17.2 ahead of Charlie Kimball (1:17.4) and Graham Rahal (1:17.5) around the 2.3-mile circuit.

The KV Racing Technology trio also lapped in the 1:17s, with E.J. Viso at 1:17.80, Tony Kanaan at 1:17.84 and Rubens Barrichello at 1:17.88. Racer.com

Also see AR1.com photos from the testing on our home page.