Marco Andretti topped the first day of practice for Sunday's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio as the family Andretti Green Racing team led the way on the IndyCar Series' return to road course racing.
The 2006 Bombardier Learjet Rookie of the Year posted the fastest lap of the day at 1min 07.9120secs during the second of two practice sessions on the 2.258-mile 13-turn circuit.
“Practice wasn't bad because we were the fastest of the day, but there is still some stuff that we need to work on," Andretti commented, "We still have a lot of understeer in the car, and it just seems easy to tip the car into oversteer, so we need some grip. We need to find grip on this track because of the way that they sealed it - the more grip the better. I think if we can get some mechanical grip then the lap times will be better.”
AGR team-mate Tony Kanaan was second fastest on the day, continuing the strong form that he showed two races ago, when the series ran at Watkins Glen International. The Brazilian, who injured his wrist in practice at that event, appeared happier than Andretti, but admitted that he would have to carry his performance throughout Saturday's qualifying session.
“It was decent - I believe we have a pretty good car," he said of the 7-Eleven Dallara, "Qualifying position here is going to be really, really important, but I'm happy – so far, so good. With the heat and all the different rubbers with the different series [running at Mid-Ohio this weekend], the track is changing constantly, so we're going to have to be smart about what kind of changes we want to make, because you can really make a mistake and go off with your car.”
Last year's Mid-Ohio polesitter Helio Castroneves was third fastest on the day, heading Team Penske team-mate Ryan Briscoe, while defending race winner and series points leader Scott Dixon was fifth. The Brazilian issued a veiled warning to his rivals after not finding the right circumstances to top the times.
“The car was really good today but, with the experience we gained here last year and the historical data that the team has at this track, we were optimistic that we would have a fast car right off the truck," Castroneves admitted, "We mainly concentrated on race set-up today, and concentrated on testing some little things that we thought might make us quicker. We would have liked to top the speed charts today, but the final session was shortened by a caution and, when we got back out, we only had a few laps to try to go for a quick lap. Unfortunately, I got caught up in some traffic, but we'll take third quick as a good start to the weekend and try to move forward from here.”
Briscoe was happy with fourth on his first outing at Mid-Ohio in an IndyCar, building on the experience he gained from running at the classic road course in sportscars.
"I have to say I really enjoy the circuit," the Australian noted, "Our goal for the practice sessions was to test as much as possible and try a variety of things and, overall, I think it was a good day for Team Penske. We learned quite a bit, but we worked mainly on our race set-up. We'll focus on our qualifying set-up tomorrow morning and, hopefully, things will go as we hope, and we'll be able to get into the Firestone Fast Six.”
