IndyCar: Penske favorite

Many times, Helio Castroneves had come close to the best laps achieved by the fastest driver since the start of these two days of testing which began last Monday. Namely his teammate Will Power, reigning vice-champion. It was finally in the afternoon of the last day that the Brazilian beat the Australian to the post by 20/1000th. Proof that Castroneves had worked hard to achieve this performance, he left the track without damaging his Dallara-Honda. Still, the two leading drivers of Team Penske had relegated Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) and their teammate Ryan Briscoe to more than 3/10ths.

“The field looks set to be very competitive this season with new teams. These two days have whetted the appetite of all the drivers,” commented Castroneves. » My teammates, who are two very talented drivers, fought each other. But I'm happy to have managed to put our car at the top of the hierarchy at the end of the day. As a team, our goal is to achieve a hat-trick in every race. Above all, we want to succeed in winning the championship. Which hasn’t happened to us for three years.”

In the end, twelve cars were classified within the same second as that of Castroneves. If the performances of Dixon (3rd) and Briscoe (4th) were not a surprise, the 5th time of Oriol Servia, absent from theIndyCar last season, and the 7th of his young teammate James Hinchcliffe, debutant in IndyCar, both within the Newman team-Haas, were not expected.

“When you are in the top 5, there is a reason,” explained the Spaniard. “I feel good in the car and in the team. And there is still to be gained from the car and from myself. Everyone is super motivated. James (Hinchcliffe. Editor's note) was of great help during these two days. When you stop driving for a year, you think you can still be at the level. It’s even better to know it’s true.”

In total, the sessions of the second day, Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing) ranks 19th without having been able to improve on his times from the day before.

The drivers and teams now have an appointment from March 25 to 27 in Florida where the first round of the season will be run in the streets of St Petersburg.