Drivers testing at Infineon Raceway
Fourteen will test Aug. 13 at Infineon Raceway in preparation for the Aug. 22 Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma – the final road course race on the schedule. Spectators are welcome to watch the 9 a.m.-5 p.m. session for free from the main grandstand, wander around the paddock and attend the noon press conference (space permitting).
Scheduled to be on the 2.2-mile track:
• Vitor Meira of A.J. Foyt Racing.
• Francesco Dracone, who made his series debut with Conquest Racing with a 22nd place at Mid-Ohio.
• Milka Duno of Dale Coyne Racing.
• Raphael Matos of de Ferran Dragon Racing, a former winner at Infineon in Firestone Indy Lights who advanced 12 positions to finish seventh at Mid-Ohio.
• Justin Wilson and J.R. Hildebrand of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. Hildebrand also is a former Firestone Indy Lights winner at Infineon who made his series debut at Mid-Ohio and finished 16th.
• Alex Tagliani of FAZZT Race Team, who led a field-high 30 laps at Mid-Ohio and finished a season-high fourth.
• Mario Moraes, Takuma Sato and E.J. Viso of KV Racing Technology.
• Dan Wheldon, the 2005 series champion, of Panther Racing.
• Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti of Target Chip Ganassi Racing. Franchitti, who won at Mid-Ohio, was the '09 winner at Infineon.
• Will Power of Team Penske, who will receive the Mario Andretti Road Course Championship trophy from the namesake following the race.
Hildebrand, of Sausalito, Calif., will be more familiar with the Infineon Raceway layout and the No. 24 RollCoater car when he participates in the first practice session Aug. 20 (3 p.m. local time). His series debut had its ups and downs.
"For me, this was my first time dealing with any kind of fuel mileage and in the first stint it ended up being irrelevant the way that the yellows worked out, but we were able to do a good job of keeping the pace with the guys in front of us and get the mileage that we were looking for," he said. "For me, those were all big positives. On the flip side of that, I made some kind of obvious mistakes that I should make, so the next time around I will be a little more used to the car and the circumstances.
"I don't think that I will be making those kind of errors like driving off the track on the exit of corners or getting a little bit of push that I'm not expecting, and for whatever reason, these cars seem to be a little more sensitive to it than what I'm used to. There were some positives and some negatives, but all around it was a pretty solid day."