Danica Sets Pace At Open Test At Iowa Speedway
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Jun 21, 2008
Ron McQueeney/IMS
NEWTON, IOWA – Danica Patrick led 26 drivers in an IndyCar Series Open Test at Iowa Speedway as preparations began for Iowa Corn Indy 250.
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.
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.”
