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Daytona Open Test Kicks Off 2007 IndyCar Series Season

Photo: IndyRacingLeague

Tony Kanaan Takes 7-Eleven to the Top of Timesheets Wednesday

Castroneves and Wheldon Pursue Andretti/Green Star in Pre-Season Sessions

by Allan Brewer
allan@fastmachines.com

Brazilian Indy Racing League IndyCar Series star Tony Kanaan drove to the top of the timesheets Wednesday on the modified Daytona International Speedway road course during the League’s regular teams’ initial official test of the new ethanol-powered, Honda 3.5 Liter V-8 open wheel cars.

Tony Kanaan cruised to a 135 mph-plus average speed on the ten-turn 2.72 mile road course inside the famous “kinked” oval as his Andretti Green Racing teammates and the rest of the field looked for the magic setup on the difficult, winding circuit that courses the infield and NASCAR turns 3 and 4 of the highly-banked facility in Daytona Beach, Florida.

“It is a good first day for the Team 7-Eleven crew,” Kanaan said. “We were not really too worried about where we were going to finish, but obviously when you finish at the top, like we did today, it makes you feel good. It sure says a lot for all the work the guys did in the off-season.

“It’s very early in the season and this really doesn’t mean too much,” he continued. “We don’t race here and it’s just a test. What I am happy about is not the position we finished today, but what we accomplished with the setup and the changes we made to the Team 7-Eleven car. It was a pretty good day for us, for sure.”

“I have to brag a little bit because I only have a few hours left and by tomorrow everyone will forget who was first today. Honestly, it is good for the boys who worked all winter long trying to catch up. It’s a good first day and it will massage everyone’s egos right now. I’m happy for my guys and it was a good day for us.”

Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves and Target Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dan Wheldon followed Kanaan on the scoring pylon at the end of the day-long, two-session practice format that has become the routine for the League under its restricted-testing regulations intended to level the competitive playing field and reduce costs for the racing participants.

The greatest surprise of the test surely must be the impressive results recorded by one of IndyCar’s best oval-track drivers: Sam Hornish, Jr.

The 2006 Indianapolis 500 and reigning Indy Racing League champion recorded the fourth fastest times in both morning and afternoon sessions, and ended the day among an elite group of five drivers (including Dario Franchitti) breaking the 135 mph benchmark.

“Everything went very well for us today,” Hornish said later. “The car was great right from the start, and we just worked on little things throughout the day to make it better.”

“Turn five (a tight hairpin on the infield road course section) seemed to cause a lot of problems for people, but we were able to keep it pretty clean through there for the most part. I felt like we were consistently making improvements in our lap times throughout the day, so that was very encouraging.”

The IndyCar Series Open Test continues on Thursday at 10AM (EST) at the Daytona International Speedway as the second and final day of practice unfolds.

Rumors persist that the teams consider some form of “simulated sprint race” a possibility for the closing moments of the day, though no official announcement has been made in this regard.

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Indy Racing League Open Test
Daytona International Speedway modified roadcourse 2.72 miles
January 31, 2007

Pos Car Driver Nat Team Car Time Gap To 1st Speed
1. 11 Tony Kanaan BR Andretti Green Racing 11 1:12.2393 135.549
2. 3 Helio Castroneves BR Team Penske 3 1:12.3653 0.1260 0.1260 135.313
3. 10 Dan Wheldon GB Chip Ganassi Racing 10 1:12.4121 0.0468 0.1728 135.226
4. 27 Dario Franchitti SCO Andretti Green Racing 27 1:12.4613 0.0492 0.2220 135.134
5. 6 Sam Hornish Jr USA Team Penske 6 1:12.5033 0.0420 0.2640 135.056
6. 9 Scott Dixon NZ Chip Ganassi Racing 9 1:12.8365 0.3332 0.5972 134.438
7. 4 Vitor Meira BR Panther Racing 4 1:12.9935 0.1570 0.7542 134.149
8. 8 Scott Sharp USA Rahal Letterman Racing 8 1:13.5587 0.5652 1.3194 133.118
9. 55 Kosuke Matsuura J Super Aguri Panther Racin 55 1:13.6206 0.0619 1.3813 133.006
10. 26 Marco Andretti USA Andretti Green Racing 26 1:13.7594 0.1388 1.5201 132.756
11. 17 Jeff Simmons USA Rahal Letterman Racing 17 1:13.9616 0.2022 1.7223 132.393
12. 14 Darren Manning GB A.J. Foyt Enterprises 14 1:14.2641 0.3025 2.0248 131.854
13. 2 Tomas Scheckter SA Vision Racing 2 1:14.2794 0.0153 2.0401 131.827
14. 7 Danica Patrick USA Andretti Green Racing 7 1:14.4986 0.2192 2.2593 131.439
15. 15 Buddy Rice USA Dreyer & Reinbold 15 1:14.5694 0.0708 2.3301 131.314
16. 20 Ed Carpenter USA Vision Racing 20 1:15.5953 1.0259 3.3560 129.532
17. 22 AJ Foyt IV USA Vision Racing 22 1:16.5095 0.9142 4.2702 127.984

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The 2007 IndyCar Series season begins under the lights with the XM Satellite Radio Indy 300 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on March 24th. The race will be telecast live by ESPN2 at 8 PM (EST) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network. A Spanish-language telecast of the race will be carried by ESPN Deportes. The IMS Radio Network broadcast also is carried on XM Satellite Radio and www.indycar.com. The sixth season of Indy Pro Series competition begins with the Homestead-Miami 100 on March 24th at Homestead-Miami Speedway. It will be webcast live on www.indycar.com and will be telecast on at 5 PM (EST) on March 28th by ESPN2.

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