Penske Continues Dominance in Day 2

Roger Penske’s outfit continued its dominating performance by sweeping the top three spots on the second and final day of testing at Barber Motorsports Park. Will Power led the squad, with Helio Castroneves second and Ryan Briscoe third. Scott Dixon and Justin Wilson also showed nice pace, rounding out the top five. Still, for the second straight day, no one could touch the Penske squad.

“It was a good day,” said a reserved Will Power, who is back on the car after a lengthy time away after his back injury.. We certainly found some good things. We went through a lot of things during the two days. Today, towards the end of the day, we focused on getting outright speed. You can see how tough the championship is going to be- There are so many good drivers and so many good cars and teams. I think it's going to be a very exciting year. You're going to have to really be on your game if you want to win."


Teammates Helio Castroneves concurred. “t was a good test for Team Penske,” said Castroneves. “We came here to get back in the groove and get our rhythm going again. We learned some things that will be useful for the race in St. Petersburg and for when we come back here to Barber. I am excited for the team, coming out on the top of the timing chart is great and I hope we do that all season."


“We had a real good couple of days testing. We found some set-up information that will be helpful in Brazil, St. Pete and for when we return here, to Barber. The test went very smooth. We were able to work through a long list of testing points. It is real nice to see the Team Penske cars 1-2-3 at the end of the test."


“We had a real good couple of days testing,” Briscoe stated after day two. “We found some set-up information that will be helpful in Brazil, St. Pete and for when we return here, to Barber. The test went very smooth. We were able to work through a long list of testing points. It is real nice to see the Team Penske cars 1-2-3 at the end of the test."


Justin Wilson, who ran with Dreyer and Reinbold Racing, enjoyed a very solid two days, posting the third and fifth quickest times on days one and two. “The test went quite well,” said the Briton. “We were quick early on and we just continued to work through a few changes. Right at the end of the day we set our quickest lap, which was on the end lap, and finally I got what I was looking for. It's a shame that the lap times aren't shown on the results sheet, but we ended up pretty quick and I am pleased. I'm looking forward to our next test and then onto Brazil."

Scott Dixon and Target Chip Ganassi Racing also enjoyed a solid day two, posting the fourth quickest time, rebounding from a difficult day on Wednesday. “It was alright,” said the 2008 champion. “I think we definitely made drastic improvements on the car today for this course. We've been concentrating on just getting development programs scratched off the test list that we've been working off of for the winter. This afternoon was good. I messed up my second to last set of tires by spinning in Turn 13. That was on my second lap so we had to scratch them and go to our last set, but the car was good and pretty close on time. On the last lap I was up a couple of tenths (of a second) but got caught up in traffic. Overall, the car is pretty decent and we're in the hunt which is nice because the last time we came away from this test we were struggling and were four or five tenths (of a second) off. So it's nice to know that we've made some gains to the car and we've got some development items on our test list checked off."


The Firestone Indy Lights teams will take the track tomorrow, while the next the IndyCars are on track will be the Sao Paulo, Brazil opener.