Franchitti, ArcaEx Begin Preparations for Firestone Indy 225
If the following text-only file is not easily readable, particularly any tables of numbers, try enlarging this window since every line has a forced end and there is no word-wrap. Otherwise, this report will look and print better from the following PDF file: http://www.sportssystems.com/applib/PDFload.cfm?file=/email/filehost/OP299.pdf&id=BC299OP9EC574 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For Immediate Release Franchitti Logs Eighth-Fastest Speed in ArcaEx Car During Preparations for Firestone Indy 225 NAZARETH, Pa. (August 27, 2004) - Dario Franchitti recorded a best speed of 164.342 miles per hour (20.4817 seconds), the eighth-fastest speed overall during IRLŽ IndyCarŽ Series practice Friday at Nazareth Speedway, as teams and drivers began preparation for Sunday afternoon's running of the Firestone Indy 225. Concentrating on finding a comfortable, competitive race setup, Franchitti registered a total of 81 laps in the #27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda/Firestone as he navigated around the triangular-shaped Nazareth Speedway. Topping the speed chart was Helio Castroneves with a speed of 165.667 miles per hour (20.3179 seconds), Vitor Meira was second fastest at 165.301 miles per hour (20.3629 seconds) and Team 7-Eleven driver Tony Kanaan posted the third-fastest speed at 165.267 miles per hour (20.3670 seconds). Sam Hornish Jr. (165.085 miles per hour, 20.3895 seconds) and Darren Manning (164.747 miles per hour, 20.4313 seconds) were fourth and fifth, respectively. Franchitti enters Sunday's event ranked fifth in the IndyCarŽ Series point standings with 319 points and is just seven shy of fourth place Castroneves. Practice for Sunday's race continues early Saturday morning, followed by qualifying at 11:30 a.m. (EDT). Dario Franchitti, #27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "It wasn't a bad day for the ArcaEx team. The track is a bit different from when we tested here, but we worked through some basic stuff and are making progress. We'll know more tomorrow when we go qualify." Allen McDonald, Race Engineer, #27 ArcaEx Dallara/Honda/Firestone: "We got through a lot of work and we're still not perfectly happy with either our race setup or our qualifying setup. But, we learned a lot, we have a good direction in which we're heading and hopefully we can put it all together tomorrow for qualifications." -AGR- Contact: Kent Johnson, (317) 872-2700 ext. 241, kent.johnson@andrettigreenracing.com Al Larsen, (317) 872-2700 ext. 239, alan.larsen@andrettigreenracing.com