Briscoe And Castroneves Start Fast At The Glen
by Joe Jennings
7/2/2010

Tweet

Watkins Glen, N. Y. - Team Penske has claimed the pole position five times in IZOD IndyCar Series races at Watkins Glen International, and the accomplished team showed its speed superiority on Friday as practice got underway for Sunday's Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen with Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves leading the way.

Briscoe, the fast qualifier in 2008 and 2009, took the speed honors with a fast lap of 132.714 miles per hour, and Castroneves was a tick of the clock slower at 132.594 mph.

Said Briscoe, "We are a couple of seconds off the pace, and it is a matter of chasing the track and letting it come to us. It is still a bit slippery out there, which is why we are about 3 ½ second off last year's pace. For this weekend, we came here with development parts that we have been working on since last year."

Castroneves stated, "So far, so good, but I know the other teams will continue working hard. Remember, this place changes so much and you just have to get better and better."

Regarding the qualifying dominance of Team Penske, he stated, "It is a combination of a lot of things, certainly in car preparation and the drivers have something to do with it too. We are going back and exchange notes and hopefully we can do well tomorrow also."

Scott Dixon timed third fastest at 132.333 mph, Dan Wheldon fourth at 132.181 and 2009 race winner Justin Wilson in the fifth spot at 132.067.

The next five fastest drivers were Will Power, 2010 Indianapolis 500 winner Dario Franchitti, Raphael Matos, Iowa Speedway winner Tony Kanaan and Mario Moraes.

Mario Romancini, in 15th, was the fastest of six rookie drivers.

Paul Tracy timed 16th and Danica Patrick 17th.





Discuss this article and more in the RacingNation.com community

Print    Favorites    digg    del.ico.us    My Web    Google