Ron McQueeney/IMS
Sarah Fisher Racing (SFR) didn’t take much time to best their top speed from Day 1 of practice at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway on “Fast Friday.” SFR’s Sarah Fisher clocked the Dollar General car in at 222.444 miles per hour just after 1:00 p.m., giving the team their top speed of the month, prior to qualifications on Saturday afternoon.
“It was a much better day than yesterday,” said Fisher, whose best start for the Indianapolis 500 is 9th, in 2003. “We have to keep working on the Dollar General car. This is one big trial and error for us, having not tested in the off-season. There are quite a few things we are learning for the first time. We’ve all been working hard and we’ve figured out some things on the agenda for tomorrow. We’re just going to see how it is goes. We’ve done as much homework as we can, with the track time we’ve been given.”
Conditions were mostly the same as Day 1 of testing at the Brickyard, with meteorologist’s reports of rain expected early in the afternoon. SFR made sure they were ready, should practice be delayed or cancelled, with Fisher quickly putting a 222.391 mph lap on record, by only Lap 11, of 75 for the day. By Lap 24, she had wheeled her quickest time of the month at 222.444 mph.
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“We were happy with our speed today,” added Fisher. “This year has been such a welcome change from where we were at in 2008.”
SFR didn’t get the track time they wanted on Friday, as they spent much of it in their garage for changes and a delay, due to rain. The team finally returned to the track for “Happy Hour” at 5:00 p.m., ending the day with a positive outlook heading into Saturday’s qualifications.
“We’re going to take what comes to us tomorrow and be happy with that,” continued Fisher. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to start working on our car for race day and that’s a whole other animal.”
Penske teammates Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves took the top two spots on the speed charts, clocking in at 225.981 and 225.438 mph, respectively. The teams will have final practice Saturday morning in split groups from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and an all-skate from 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. The teams will, then, turn to qualifications from 12:00 p.m. 6:00 p.m., locking in the Top 11 spots for the 93rd running of the Indianapolis 500.
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Fisher drew the 24th position for the qualifying lineup in her attempt for the Peak Motor Oil Poll Award, presented by Auto Zone.
