Ohio native Graham Rahal topped the time chart in the initial IZOD IndyCar Series practice session for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by Westfield Insurance.
The New Albany, Ohio native, competing in his second race of the season with Newman/Haas Racing, had a best lap of 1 minute, 8.3061 seconds on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn circuit in the No. 02 National Tire & Battery entry.
The hour-long session also featured the top 22 cars separated by less than a second, J.R. Hildebrand, the 2009 Firestone Indy Lights champion who is making his IZOD IndyCar Series debut in the No. 24 RollCoater/Dreyer & Reinbold Racing car, placed seventh (1:08.6340), and series championship points leader Will Power second (1:08.3301) in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car.
“The thing that is obvious to me is that it is really close and very competitive,” said Rahal, who has recorded three top-10 finishes with three different teams in six races this season. “At one point, I was 10th, but only a tenth off. But I really wanted to be fastest on the first day at home. It feels good. I am a little bit surprised, especially where we came from. The good thing is the car is nowhere close for me. There’s a lot we need to improve on. If we can be this competitive and have a lot to improve on is a good sign for me.”
DAY 1 NOTEBOOK:
Honda overtake assist
Overtake assist was introduced to the series in August 2009 and will make be used for the second time at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
The system employed by Honda Performance Development is an ECU software alteration. It is activated by the driver via a button on the steering wheel and provides an extra 200 RPM (about 10 horsepower) to the Honda Indy V-8 engine. Parameters are updated before each race weekend to meet the circuit layout.
For the 2.258-mile, 14-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course:
15 uses
20 seconds duration each use
10-second recharge period between uses
Gil de Ferran took a deep breath and smiled in anticipation of the question. It’s been a year since the 2003 Indianapolis 500 champion announced at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course his retirement from race car driving to pursue IZOD IndyCar Series team ownership. He’s back at the circuit this weekend - as managing partner and team president of de Ferran Dragon Racing.
GIL DE FERRAN: “Last year at Mid-Ohio seems like a century ago so much has happened since. I’ve never stopped running. Obviously, we had to finish the (American Le Mans Series) season with Acura and try to pull a deal together during the winter for IndyCar. I ended up coming into this partnership with Jay (Penske) and Steve (Luczo) and I’ve been on a treadmill ever since. Part of why I stopped driving is because I wanted to dedicate myself fully to the business of team ownership, and that’s an activity that if you want to do well you have to be dedicated, creative and disciplined. I don’t feel I could accomplish everything I wanted to do on the business side of motorsports while at the same time being a driver.” (A lot has happened in the last year to you, too): “It’s been a busy year, becoming part of the committee being involved in such big decisions regarding IndyCar racing. But it’s been really fantastic.” (Do you ever feel like jumping behind the wheel of a race car?): “I felt that way when I was working in Formula One with Honda. Even here when you see an IndyCar or sports car going around, you say, ‘Ah, man.’ I regard that as a kind of fantasy. I have, of course, great memories of driving racing cars, but I feel that for you to be at the level that it’s actually gratifying to drive a racing car you need to dedicate a lot of time, effort and practice. You can’t do both.
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