IndyCar: Post-Practice Notes and Quotes
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May 09, 2008
Ron McQueeney/IMS
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Team Penske): “I guess Mother Nature is just not cooperating with us this week. It’s too bad we couldn’t run more today. I would have liked to have done a few more things out there, but I still think we’re in good shape for tomorrow. I’m not concerned with the other drivers’ speeds today, because I think a lot of them were getting tows. It’ll be interesting to see who has what during qualifying tomorrow. It is what it is, and it’s the same for everyone. We’ll use the short practice session in the morning to our advantage and see what we can do. It would be the best birthday present tomorrow if I could put the #3 Team Penske car on the front row.” (Castroneves turns 33 tomorrow)
RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske): “It was great to get back out on the track today after a couple of days off. We went out to continue working on our qualifying setup, and we were really happy with the balance and speed of the car. As a result, we didn’t want to risk anything by running in traffic too much and called it a day after 24 laps. It will definitely be interesting to see how much everyone gambles tomorrow given the fact that the weather isn’t looking so good for Sunday. Overall, we’re cautiously optimistic about our chances.”
MARIO DOMINGUEZ (No. 96 Visit Mexico City/Pacific Coast Motorsports): “I am really disappointed. I was returning to the track for our second full run, and I exited too fast coming out of the pits. I lost the rear of the car and crashed into the inside wall. I got a few laps at speed, and this is so unfortunate because we were on the way to making our car better. Everyone is telling me to keep my patience. We are already behind, and I guess I was trying to rush it back out there. We are working hard, and we have a lot of work to do.”
WILL POWER (No. 8 Aussie Vineyard-Team Australia): “It was not a very productive day for the KV Racing Technology Aussie Vineyards-Team Australia guys. There were a lot of yellows this afternoon, and then the rain came, so we didn’t get the track time we needed. That put us back a bit. There were also a lot of cars running around in tows today, so it is really hard to get a feel for what speeds people are actually running. It is going to be very interesting tomorrow.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 17 Rahal Letterman Racing Team Ethanol): “It was a step forward that we really needed today. We made some big strides and really helped our confidence heading into tomorrow. We went back to basics and used some of our data from Homestead, and it made a big difference. It was a pretty impressive time on our own, but we still have some work to do if we want to challenge for a front-row spot.”
A.J. FOYT IV (No. 2 Vision Racing): “I’m glad we got at least a half of a day running in, and I think we definitely made some improvements to the car from our first day out. Now that we’ve got the car right, it’s just a matter of finding more speed. I’m happy with how the day went and happy with the car. We’ve got a long way to go, but the Vision team is definitely on the right path.”
