Testing in Style.
What a test session it was held on Tuesday 21st March.
A full day of testing at Barber Motorsports Park pointed to the conclusion that the intense competition that the Verizon IndyCar Series has witnessed in recent seasons is going to be even closer and more unpredictable for the remainder of the 2017 season.
Twenty-two cars turned a total of 1,147 laps on the 2.3-mile, 17-turn scenic permanent road course today, in advance of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama - the third of 17 races on this year's schedule, set for the weekend of April 21-23.
And while two-time Barber race winner and three-time pole sitter Will Power wound up fastest after six hours of on-track action, it was by no means decisive. The top 14 drivers on the combined speed chart were separated by less than a half-second.
Power set the best lap of the day moments before the checkered flag waved, at 1 minute, 7.7518 seconds (122.211 mph) in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. The Aussie nudged out second-year Verizon IndyCar Series driver Max Chilton (No. 8 Gallagher Honda) for top honors by less than a hundredth of a second.
"It just shows how tight it is between Honda and Chevy now," Power said. "It's tough, man. We just went through a bunch of stuff (during the test day) to see what it does and I think we got some good answers here. I think we've got a good car for here, I feel good about my setup."
Chilton, driving for the Chip Ganassi Racing team that switched to Honda from Chevrolet in the offseason, put down a lap of 1:07.7591 (122.198 mph) to finish second on the leaderboard.
"Good day apart from Power spoiling the fun at the end of the day, but it's all good fun," Chilton said. "It was a good test day. ... We got a lot done.
"We actually were struggling a lot with the car all day, that's why we took a long, long lunch break to sort of change the car," Chilton added. "Then we definitely made steps forward, did a few fine-tunes. It's amazing, you make a few changes and you jump yourself up the board."
Two of Power's teammates at Team Penske, Josef Newgarden and Juan Pablo Montoya, finished third and fourth on the speed chart. Newgarden is in his first full season with the renowned team, replacing Montoya, who will drive for Team Penske at the two Indianapolis Motor Speedway races in May.
Newgarden, whose fast lap was 1:07.8402 (122.052 mph) in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevy, said it took him time to adapt to the new tire supplied by Firestone for the Barber circuit.
"Very different feeling form the car today than I've ever had at Barber and that requires a lot of work," said the 2015 Barber race winner. "But we had a good day and the Verizon No. 2 car was fast. I think it has a lot of speed in it, it's just a matter of how we get that out of the car and how to make it consistent so that I can put the lap together for qualifying."
Montoya was fourth quick in the No. 22 Team Penske Chevrolet (1:07.8406, 122.051 mph) despite it being his first time in an Indy car since the 2016 season finale six months ago. For the two-time Indianapolis 500 winner, it was like riding a bike.
"I feel like I drove the car yesterday," Montoya said. "It's kind of fun. I've been out of the car since September, but I feel fine. I have a new crew, new guys, new engineer. It's working really well."
Andretti Autosport drivers Marco Andretti, Takuma Sato and Ryan Hunter-Reay finished fifth, sixth and eighth, respectively, on the day. Sato was fastest in the three-hour first session, but was among the 19 drivers who improved their times in the second practice as teams honed in on setups. Push-to-pass was also activated on all cars for the final hour of the second practice, giving a 60-horsepower boost whenever it was used.
Sebastien Bourdais, winner of the March 12 season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, was 13th fastest overall today. Defending Barber winner and series champion Simon Pagenaud ran 10th.
The next race on the Verizon IndyCar Series schedule is the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The famous street-course on April 9th. The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama follows two weeks later at Barber Motorsports Park.
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Barber Open Test
Barber Motorsports Park
Combined Results of Practice
2.3 mile(s)
Verizon IndyCar Series March 21, 2017 |
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Rank Car Driver Name C/A/E/T Session Time Speed Total Laps
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1 12 Power, Will D/C/C/F Practice 2 01:07.7518 122.211 54
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2 8 Chilton, Max D/H/H/F Practice 2 01:07.7591 122.198 57
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3 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/C/F Practice 2 01:07.8402 122.052 47
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4 22 Montoya, Juan Pablo D/C/C/F Practice 2 01:07.8406 122.051 47
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5 27 Andretti, Marco D/H/H/F Practice 2 01:07.9664 121.825 54
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6 26 Sato, Takuma D/H/H/F Practice 2 01:07.9835 121.794 52
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7 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/H/F Practice 2 01:08.0255 121.719 46
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8 28 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/H/F Practice 2 01:08.0935 121.598 52
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9 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/H/F Practice 2 01:08.1172 121.555 64
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10 1 Pagenaud, Simon D/C/C/F Practice 2 01:08.1876 121.430 62
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11 10 Kanaan, Tony D/H/H/F Practice 1 01:08.2163 121.379 47
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12 3 Castroneves, Helio D/C/C/F Practice 2 01:08.2235 121.366 50
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13 18 Bourdais, Sebastien D/H/H/F Practice 2 01:08.2308 121.353 42
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14 19 Jones, Ed (R) D/H/H/F Practice 2 01:08.2488 121.321 53
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15 98 Rossi, Alexander D/H/H/F Practice 1 01:08.3353 121.167 65
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16 7 Aleshin, Mikhail D/H/H/F Practice 1 01:08.4181 121.021 52
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17 20 Pigot, Spencer D/C/C/F Practice 2 01:08.4217 121.014 52
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18 5 Hinchcliffe, James D/H/H/F Practice 2 01:08.4951 120.885 65
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19 4 Daly, Conor D/C/C/F Practice 2 01:08.6138 120.675 56
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20 21 Hildebrand, JR D/C/C/F Practice 2 01:08.6952 120.532 61
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21 14 Munoz, Carlos D/C/C/F Practice 2 01:08.7088 120.509 42
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22 83 Kimball, Charlie D/H/H/F Practice 2 01:08.8144 120.324 27
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(R) Rookie
Total Laps for Combined Sessions: 1147
(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (A)erokit: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)ire: F=Firestone
Press info from Indy Car Media Services, photo from the David Turner collection Indy 2017. Max Clinton at Indy May 2016 qualifying day.
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