IndyCar teams head to Mid-Ohio for test

Twenty one of the 27 cars entered in the Honda Indy 200 will be on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on July 28 to run through setup programs for the second natural-terrain road course race of the IZOD IndyCar Series season.

The test is open to the public and free from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., with viewing from the infield and the Keyhole. Spectators are welcome to bring food and coolers. The Honda Indy 200 is Aug. 5-7.

"You still have to focus on the areas that you think the car needs improvement or development pieces, but there's nothing better than having your competition there to sort of gauge how that's going," said Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, who has top-five finishes in each of the past four years at the facility that's celebrating its 50^th anniversary, including victories in 2007 and '09.

"That's why a lot of teams pull together. I know a lot of times when we book a test we try to book it with Penske or Andretti or KV – teams that you know you can benchmark yourself off. I think you've seen a pattern over the last few years – Mid-Ohio, Sonoma, Alabama – there's been a lot of those tracks where everybody sort of organized a test day beforehand and they try to go to get information."

Scheduled to participate are:

Andretti Autosport — Danica Patrick, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Mike Conway, Marco Andretti
Conquest Racing – Sebastian Saavedra
Dale Coyne Racing – Sebastien Bourdais, James Jakes
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing – Justin Wilson, Ana Beatriz
HVM Racing – Simona de Silvestro
KV Racing Technology-Lotus – Tony Kanaan, Takuma Sato, E.J. Viso
National Guard Panther Racing – JR Hildebrand
Newman/Haas Racing – Oriol Servia
Sam Schmidt Motorsports – Alex Tagliani, Martin Plowman, Simon Pagenaud
Sarah Fisher Racing – Ed Carpenter
Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing – Graham Rahal
Target Chip Ganassi Racing – Dario Franchitti, Scott Dixon

Pagenaud competed in the IZOD IndyCar Series race at Barber Motorsports Park in early April, filling in for the injured Ana Beatriz (fractured wrist) in the No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car.

Three weeks ago, Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe, Helio Castroneves and Will Power joined Jakes for a test session on the course. Franchitti, the series championship points leader by 38 over Power, is the defending race winner. Power started from the pole and finished second in 2010.