PATRICK FASTEST AT OPEN TEST AT IOWA SPEEDWAY
 |
NEWTON, IOWA, – Danica Patrick led 26 drivers in an IndyCar Series Open Test at Iowa Speedway as preparations began for Sunday’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer. Patrick lapped the 7/8-mile oval in 17.4612 seconds, 184.317 mph in the No. 7 Motorola entry. Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Ryan Briscoe were second and third with fast laps of 183.419 mph and 183.291 mph, respectively. Patrick’s rookie teammate, Hideki Mutoh, was fourth, while IndyCar Series points leader Scott Dixon, last year’s polesitter at Iowa, was fifth. The drivers combined for 1,380 laps in two hours of testing. A second two-hour session scheduled for late afternoon was cancelled due to a mid-afternoon rain storm. Milka Duno was uninjured in the only accident of the day. Duno’s No. 23 car spun in Turn 2 and made moderate contact with the SAFER Barrier. Duno’s team was forced to pull out its backup car due to the incident. Additional practice and PEAK Motor Oil Pole Qualifying for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 are scheduled for Saturday. Also on June 20, Arie Luyendyk Jr. won the SWE Pole for the Jeld-Wen 100 Firestone Indy Lights race. It was the fourth career pole for Luyendyk, who earned two poles in 2003 and one in 2002. Dillon Battistini, who trails series points leader Richard Antinucci by one point, will start second. Jeff Simmons qualified third, Bobby Wilson fourth and Brent Sherman fifth. Antinucci qualified 14th. *** This is the second IndyCar Series event at Iowa Speedway. Dario Franchitti won the inaugural event. *** Andretti Green Racing driver Danica Patrick met with the media at Iowa Speedway Friday morning. DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Motorola): (About Iowa Speedway): “I think what I remember first and foremost about coming to Iowa Speedway is that the fans were so great and there were so many of them. It was so full. It’s really great to see that as a driver. It gets you that last little bit amped up for the race.” (About anticipated differences between last year’s race and this year’s race): “I think one of the things that happened was that the weather caught us a little off guard last year. We came here on a month when you would think it would be at least 80 degrees and warm and humid like the Midwest usually is. But it was really cold, so we were caught off guard. We anticipated a different a different kind of day and I think that’s why we fell a little bit short, why the starts and restarts were so exciting. When you cool a tire off, you need to get them back up to temperature. If it would’ve been warmer out, we wouldn’t have had so far to go to bring them up to temperature. It will be changed, fixed for this year. I anticipate those situations, the restarts and everything, to be exciting still but less yellow flags following them. I think it’s going to be much better from that perspective.” (About traffic): “The more cars have made it more interesting. One of the things that’s happened as a result of more cars is we’ve had a little bit more cautions, as well. So, there might be less lapped traffic to think about. I’m not sure what to expect this year. The yellows have played into it, but if that doesn’t happen, you have to stick your nose in, you have to go along side them. I don’t know what the line is going to be like. There’s a lot of uncertainty in my mind right now about what it’s go ing to be like, but lap traffic makes it more exciting for t! he fans though, too. From that angle, it’s a good thing.” *** Each IndyCar Series entry will receive three sets of Firestone Firehawk tires for today’s Open Test. Two sets must be returned prior to the start of practice Saturday. One set may be carried over and added to the seven sets each entry receives for race weekend. *** With the most laps of any Firestone Indy Lights race in 2008, the Jeld-Wen 100 could be the most important event of the year for Andrew Prendeville's Racing Laps for Best Friends program. In the program, fans make online donations to Best Friends, a not-for-profit animal welfare group, based on the number of laps that Prendeville completes in his Best Friends Animal Society No. 5 car. All donations made to the Best Friends Animal Society through racinglapsforbestfriends.com for Saturday's race will go directly to help Best Friends' flood relief efforts in Iowa. According to Vicki Kilmer-Rinker, Best Friends' cause marketing manager, members of Best Friends' Rapid Response team experienced in swift-water rescues have been deployed to Oakville, Iowa. Other Best Friends volunteers are expected to be involved trying to reunite people with their lost pets, engaging in search-and-rescue of companion animals and other relief efforts. *** Rahal Letterman Racing will carry donation information for Midwest Flood Relief via its in-car camera this weekend. Midwest Flood Relief and its website, www.liveunited.org, are part of the United Way campaign to help those affected by the natural disasters in June. *** Andretti Green Racing teamed with The Michael Andretti Foundation this week to gather support for the people of the state of Iowa in the wake of severe storms and flooding that have left much of the state in need. With the help of AGR's four IndyCar Series drivers, the team staged an online auction for its sponsors this week and raised $10,000, which will be donated to the American Red Cross. Each driver donated one signed item, and sponsors were allowed to submit bids for two days. *** Alliance Motorsports has formed a partnership with the Central Iowa Chapter of the American Red Cross to help residents of Iowa affected by the recent flooding. Team members from Alliance Motorsports are collecting donations for the Red Cross and will carry the organizations' logo on its No. 24 Firestone Indy Lights car throughout the race weekend. All money raised will go directly to the Central Iowa Chapter of the American Red Cross. CHRIS WILLIAMS (Co-owner, Alliance Motorsports): "This is an opportunity to help those that have lost everything. It is our goal to reach out to all of the teams that are competing this weekend for support, and hope that as a group, we can make a difference.” *** Helio Castroneves became an uncle today when his sister, Kati, gave birth to a baby boy. Edourdo Castroneves Assola was born by c-section at 6:51 a.m. (EDT) and was approximately 6 pounds at birth, according to his uncle. "Uncle Helio is officially uncle Helio," the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner said. *** INDYCAR SERIES POST-TEST QUOTES:
DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Motorola, fastest): “I think that anybody watching could see we were running a more traditional racing line around the track instead of around the bottom. I was able to drive on the bottom for some of the track when I did a sticker (tire) run at the end, but I couldn't do it the whole way around. The racing is going to be a lot more exciting with a lot more passing and just better, in general, than last year.” (What kind of passing do you think we'll see?): "I think it will be easier to pass cars that aren't very good. Last year, everyone was on the bottom, and the trick was you had to go around the top to pass. It seems like it may be more like Richmond, where you have a more traditional line. Everyone still wants to go to the bottom, but you are running more against the wall on the straight. That gives you the opportunity to go mor e underneath. It will make that part a lot better. It will still be difficult to pass, because you can't stick your nose underneath. It won't be like a mile-and-a-half, but it will be a lot easier than last year.”
RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, third): “Despite having only one session this afternoon, I think we were able to learn a lot. We made some solid progress with the race setup of the Team Penske car, and I think today was an encouraging start to the weekend. It's my first time running at Iowa Speedway, and so far I'm having a great time. It's a challenging track, and I'm really enjoying the layout of the circuit.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske, second): “We were working on the basics of setting the car up – fixing little problems here and problems there. We were fixing little by little to keep the consistency, and we seemed to have that. Obviously Ryan (Briscoe) was working on different things, some race setup, and we’re very optimistic for both cars. It’s so tight that we’re looking for thousandths of a second, and everything you change in the car, it makes a difference. It shows on the lap time.” (About tires) “I think we have more grip. Firestone seemed to do a good job with the tires here. I have not tried new tires after a few laps, but it seems to be holding pretty good, and hopefully the weather will cooperate as well Sunday and we won’t have any cold tire issues or anything like that.” (About six consecutive race weekends) “It&rs quo;s going to be grueling. It’s going to be tough on everyone, especially on the guys. But it’s the same for everyone. I’m prepared, and Team Penske is prepared. It’s similar to Indy. You spend a month in Indy and then on to Milwaukee and Texas. It wasn’t six weekends, but it felt like it.” (About the rain) “When it rains, it always cleans a little bit of track. But it is what it is. We’ve had this situation many times before. The good news is everybody was able to spend some time on the racetrack and understand what it is we need to do.”
HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 27 Formula Dream, fourth): “Today was a very productive day for the Formula Dream team. We were able to try most of the things we wanted to do before it started to rain. It would’ve been better if we had more time on the track, but we still have two practice sessions tomorrow, so I am confident that we will be able to do well in qualifying.”
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing, fifth): “We didn’t run as many laps as the others before the rain came today. In the amount of time we had today on track in the Commit car, our focus was on balancing. Since the last time we were here, there is definitely less grip and a few more bumps to negotiate.” *** SWE POLE QUALIFYING NOTES: · This is the fourth career pole for Arie Luyendyk Jr. He previously won poles at Michigan in 2002 and 2003 and at Texas in 2003. His best finish when starting from the pole was second at Michigan in 2002. · This is the third pole of the season for AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing. Raphael Matos won the pole at Homestead-Miami and St. Petersburg. · Dillon Battistini qualified second, his third front row start of the season. He won the pole at Indianapolis and started second at Homestead-Miami. · Jeff Simmons will start third, his second consecutive top-three start. He also qualified third at Milwaukee. · Bobby Wilson will start fourth, his second consecutive top-four start. He started second at Milwaukee. · Franck Perera qualified ninth in his Firestone Indy Lights debut. *** FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:
ARIE LUYENDYK JR. (No. 26 Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc., qualified first): “Everyone at AFS/AGR did an awesome job today. We were the quickest pretty much all day and it just shows that the preparation there is amazing. I can’t thank them enough. I’m really happy that we got a pole for our new sponsor Targus. I’m really excited for the race tomorrow.” (About the delay): “I was really scared that we were going to get rained out and start on points. I knew we had a car good enough for pole. (Dillon) Battistini was close, but I’m glad we got the pole.” (How stressful was it to watch almost everyone qualify?): “I knew who the fast guys were. I was looking for (Brent) Sherman and you can never count out those Sam Schmidt guys, and I knew they were last. I’m just really excited.” (Can you win here?): “I didn’t race here last year, but it looked like a great track. I’ve been fast here from the word go, so hopefully it can stay a lucky track for me. Hopefully we can stay out front. We’ll work really hard on the setup tonight and cross our fingers.”
DILLON BATTISTINI (No. 15 AlexP, points leader, second): “We ran two good clean laps. They weren’t perfect. I made a small mistake in Turn 1 on the first lap, but it wasn’t enough to cost me the pole. It is great to be on the front row. Hopefully we’ll stay in that position at the start, and pass Arie (Luyendyk Jr.) during the race. The car is really good. It felt good in traffic today. We are in a strong position for the race. We have a good chance of winning. It is a long race and anything can happen. We just need to make it to the finish, hopefully ahead of my championship contenders.”
JEFF SIMMONS (No. 2 TMR-Xtreme Coil Drilling, third): “I’m happy with what the team gave me. I could have been a little quicker. I don’t think we could have got Arie (Luyendyk), but we could have gotten (Dillon) Battistini. We had made some changes and I was trying to figure out what we had. We may have left a little bit out there.”
BRENT SHERMAN (No. 16 National Guard Delphi, fifth): “After we tested here last week, I was a little nervous because the car wasn’t great, but when we ran today, we started off fast without much drafting. I’m a little greedy and thought that I could have done better, but I’ll take fifth. The key to the race will be to get out front early. We weren’t that great in traffic today. We’ve got to move toward the front quickly and stay out of the traffic and the junk. I am going to race guys hard and hopefully move up in the race.”
*** SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE (all times local): 7:30 a.m.
Garages open 10 a.m.-Noon
IndyCar Series practice 1:30-3:30 p.m.
IndyCar Series practice (two groups) 3:45 p.m.
Jeld-Wen 100 pre-race 4:15 p.m.
Jeld-Wen 100 (115 laps/100 miles) 5:30 p.m.
PEAK Motor Oil Pole Qualifying presented by Boyer Petroleum
*** The 2008 IndyCar Series season continues with the Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer on June 22 at Iowa Speedway. The race will be telecast live in High Definition at 1 p.m. (EDT) by ABC. The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network. A Spanish-language telecast of the race will be carried by ESPNDeportes. The IMS Radio Network broadcast also is carried on XM Satellite Radio and www.indycar.com. The 2008 Firestone Indy Lights season continues with the Jeld-Wen 100 on June 21 at Iowa Speedway. The race will be telecast at 5:30 p.m. (EDT) June 26 on ESPN2 and live on www.indycar.com.