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Indy Notes - May 5th - Tracy schools the rookies

Written by Scott Keller · May 6, 2009

The Indy 500 on-track activities have begun.  Well, sort of.  The “Rookie” orientation program was run today at the Brickyard, with a few non-rookies running refresher courses. Most notably, Paul Tracy and Scott Sharp were in action today, putting on a little competition for the fastest lap by the “old guys”. Tracy ended up posting the best lap of the day at 223.089 mph.

“I am just excited to be back on track,” Tracy said. “The GEICO - KV Racing Technology team did a great job today. The mechanics, the engineers, everyone on the team did great. The first few laps were a little hair-raising, but the car was good, just like Jimmy Vasser said it would be, so I just had to keep my foot down. I want to thank GEICO, Kevin Kalkhoven, my personal sponsor Monster and Firestone and Honda, who are all contributing to this program, as well as everyone who is involved on the team for making this an exciting day for me.”

The top time by Tracy was not a huge surprise. The 2003 Champ Car champion has plenty of previous experience at the brickyard, and raced well in a Dallara last year at Edmonton.

Scott Sharp returned to Indy for the first time since 2007, and put up fast times today as well in his Panther entry. Sharp won the pole in 2001, and more than knows the fast way around Indy.

Robert Doornbos continues to impress the Indy Car world with his ability to learn the ovals quickly. After qualifying in the front row at Kansas, Doornbos posted third quick time on his first day ever on the 2.5 mile oval.


PRACTICE TIMES 5/5/09
1 - Paul Tracy - 223.089
2 - Scott Sharp - 221.878
3 - Robert Doornbos - 221.735
4 - Raphael Matos - 218.613
5 - Alex Tagliani - 218.333
6 - Mike Conway - 217.063
7 - Nelson Phillippe - 214.786
8 - Alex Lloyd - 213.032
9 - Stanton Barrett - 207.522

Paul Tracy quote credit: KV Racing PR

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Comments

One Response to “Indy Notes - May 5th - Tracy schools the rookies”

  1. Peter Gillespie on May 6th, 2009 5:09 am

    PT the dark horse to win vs the Penske’s? I’m leaning towards a verteran driver sipping the milk this year, with the younger crowd getting lost along the way.

    AGR has become a empty husk of its Team Green roots. What of Weldon? Another dark horse?

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