KV Racing Technology team-mates Oriol Servia and Will Power topped the timesheets in a special rookies-only practice session at Richmond International Raceway as the IndyCar Series gears up for the second race of a six-week swing through the heart of the season.
The practice session afforded eight rookies and drivers transitioning to the IndyCar Series just 90 minutes on the tightest circuit on the schedule, while four drivers - Marty Roth, John Andretti, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Townsend Bell - who have not previously raced at Richmond were allowed 30 minutes on track to get used to its 16-second 0.75-mile lap.
Servia clocked 16.1392secs to top the session, while team-mate Power was second at 16.3453secs, putting the Team Australian entry ahead of HVM Racing's Ernesto Viso and Conquest Racing's Enrique Bernoldi.
“I think we were a little bit off on the lap times compared to last year, but it was our first time around,” Servia said, “The car felt comfortable - I liked the balance.
"I can see that the race must be really tough in traffic because, on your own, everything is narrow and you already have issues getting your marks. I can only imagine how it's going to be like with 26 cars and dirty air and this and that. I can see that this is a place where you can make mistakes easily, so we're going to have to keep our brain on top of the game.”
Bernoldi's Conquest team-mate Jaime Camara rounded out the top five, while Newman/Haas/Lanigan duo Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson took seventh and ninth, split from the leading quintet by Bell and Hunter-Reay.
“The track is pretty quick," Rahal, coming off a top ten finish at Iowa, reported, "It's fun though. It's higher banked and it will be busy here. Our car went through all kinds of stages today - oversteer, understeer and a little bit of everything - and we need to find a balance somewhere in between to make this thing work.”
