Click HERE to view and download the combined practice results from today at Indianapolis road course
Dixon’s lap of 1 minute, 10.6971 seconds in the second of two sessions on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course was one second off the track record set by Simon Pagenaud in May 2014.
“It’s always a lot of fun when you’re at Indianapolis, road course or oval. I think this track is a lot different from the other ones because you trim out (shed downforce) so much,” said Dixon, who has finished first and third in the past two races this season. “It can be frustrating at times trying to piece a lap together, but I think when you do, it’s rewarding. I think all of us have been off track testing the limits.”
Reigning series champion Will Power was second on the time chart (1:10.8118) in the No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and Juan Pablo Montoya (1:10.8560) was third in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
Sebastien Bourdais, driving the No. 11 Team Mistic E-Cigs – KVSH Racing Chevrolet, was quickest in the morning practice at 1:10.9378 and bettered it in the afternoon session (1:10.8839) for fourth quick overall. Helio Castroneves, who is looking to make his 300th Indy car start in the 82-lap race Saturday, was fifth on the time chart (1:10.9290) in the No. 3 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
“We had an opportunity to try quite a lot of things. We had a lot of practice and actually had more practice time than we had Firestone tires,” said Castroneves, who has earned the Verizon P1 Award for winning the pole position the past two races. “We are still going to make some changes, but at this point we are happy. With a day under our belts here, there is no question that we are on the right path.”
Pagenaud set the track record of 1:09.6716 last May in the first segment of knockout qualifications and went on to win the inaugural Verizon IndyCar Series race on the road course. Sebastian Saavedra earned the Verizon P1 Award in the Firestone Fast Six with a lap of 1:23.8822 in wet/drying track conditions.
A 45-minute morning practice Friday will determine the qualifying groups for the first of three segments of knockout qualifications in the afternoon.
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