Power Leads Second Practice at St. Petersburg
March 22, 2013
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 22, 2013) – Team Penske got off to a fast start in the 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series season Friday as the team posted two of the six fastest laps during practice for the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Will Power owned the fastest lap overall on the day with a time of 61.4467 around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile street course in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet.
Meanwhile, Helio Castroneves recorded the sixth-fastest lap, clocking in at 61.7853, in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet.
“We are still fighting to find the right balance handling-wise on the Verizon car,” said Power, who has captured the last three poles in St. Pete. “We put a good lap in there early but we weren’t that good on older tires so we have a bit of work to do.”
Both Power and Castroneves are formers winners on the streets of St. Petersburg with Power claiming the checkered flag in 2010 and Castroneves with three victories in 2006, 2007 and last season.
“It was a great day for the Hitachi Chevrolet. We were able to find some speed and improve the car from the first session to the second,” said Castroneves, who also won the St. Pete pole in 2007. “The Team Penske guys did a great job as always so we feel good for tomorrow and hopefully the weather holds up so that we can keep getting better.”
The two Penske drivers will be among the 25 battling for the pole position at the season opener when qualifying begins Saturday at 2:05 p.m. ET. NBC Sports Network’s qualifying coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Sunday’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be televised live beginning at 12 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
Follow the IndyCar action all season long on Verizon’s IndyCar 13 mobile app. Now available across all carriers, download it now by calling **INDY on your mobile phone or find it at the App Store and on Google Play.
Will Power owned the fastest lap overall on the day with a time of 61.4467 around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile street course in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet.
Meanwhile, Helio Castroneves recorded the sixth-fastest lap, clocking in at 61.7853, in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet.
“We are still fighting to find the right balance handling-wise on the Verizon car,” said Power, who has captured the last three poles in St. Pete. “We put a good lap in there early but we weren’t that good on older tires so we have a bit of work to do.”
Both Power and Castroneves are formers winners on the streets of St. Petersburg with Power claiming the checkered flag in 2010 and Castroneves with three victories in 2006, 2007 and last season.
“It was a great day for the Hitachi Chevrolet. We were able to find some speed and improve the car from the first session to the second,” said Castroneves, who also won the St. Pete pole in 2007. “The Team Penske guys did a great job as always so we feel good for tomorrow and hopefully the weather holds up so that we can keep getting better.”
The two Penske drivers will be among the 25 battling for the pole position at the season opener when qualifying begins Saturday at 2:05 p.m. ET. NBC Sports Network’s qualifying coverage will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Sunday’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be televised live beginning at 12 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network.
Follow the IndyCar action all season long on Verizon’s IndyCar 13 mobile app. Now available across all carriers, download it now by calling **INDY on your mobile phone or find it at the App Store and on Google Play.