Castroneves Leads Second Day Of INDYCAR Testing

By Anne Proffit

Anne Proffit

BIO

Anne Proffit has worked in the automotive field since - well, not telling you that. She's been a car salesperson (before it was popular to hire... More

LATEST ARTICLE
INDYCAR Tweaks Push-To-Pass For Mid-Ohio Race
Although the racing has been exceptional this year with new Dallara chassis, new Chevrolet, Honda... Read More

• N/ALEADERBOARD RANK
• 577ARTICLES CONTRIBUTED
• 0COMMENTS POSTED

649 views Mar 8, 2012

Anne Proffit photo

Enlarge Photo

The second day of IZOD IndyCar Series "spring training" on Sebring International Raceway 1.67-mile short course was simply on fire.

Nothing like NASCAR's big jet-dryer blowup at this year's Daytona 500. No, Will Power ended up with a second fire after yesterday's engine fire on-course. Power put out the flames himself on Monday after feeling the fire marshal was moving too slowly to quell the fuel line problem. This time he was able to limp the car back to pits, having to give up a quick speed for the second day in a row in the process with a similar fuel leak.

Teammate Helio Castroneves did post the top spot for Team Penske, running a total of 201 laps for a best of 115.302 mph. The usually ebullient Castroneves was very straightforward in his comments after being second to Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay on Monday. "Overall it was a good day; we're still developing the car," he said. "I thought all of the Chevys are in good shape and overall, Team Penske is in good shape. We have to just keep pushing."

Castroneves led a sweep of the top three spots in this particular test with Power second and Ryan Briscoe third; between them, the Team Penske trio completed a total of 541 laps in their Dallara DW12/Chevrolet/Firestone race cars and were the only drivers to top 115-mph on Monday and Tuesday.

The balance of the ten on hand for the first round of testing, in order of their speeds on Tuesday were Hunter-Reay, Simon Pagendaud, Justin Wilson, James Jakes (the latter three all with Honda power), James Hinchcliffe (who had an off-course excursion), Marco Andretti and Simona de Silvestro, the sole Lotus runner.