Qualified and non-qualified drivers get work done at Indy

[May 16, 2008]  INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -- A group of antsy drivers got their wish Thursday, with a dry track allowing them to finally get some work done at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After rain the previous day washed out all but about an hour of the opening day of the second week of practice for the May 25 Indianapolis 500, 35 drivers took advantage of the cool, dry afternoon to get on track. Despite sometimes gusty wind, they turned a total of 2,628 incident-free laps on the 2 1/2-mile oval, making it easily the busiest day since the track opened for practice May 7.

Eleven drivers who qualified last Saturday spent Thursday working on their race-day setups. Everyone else tried to find the right combination of speed and balance to be ready to qualify Saturday -- the first of two remaining days of qualifications -- for one of the remaining 22 starting spots in the 92nd Indy 500.

Already qualified drivers, led by Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves, at 223.708 mph and 223.284, respectively, were in the top five spots on Thursday's speed chart, followed by non-qualified drivers Will Power and John Andretti.

Pole-winner Scott Dixon, third fastest Thursday, wasn't surprised by the nearly constant traffic throughout the six-hour session.

"Everybody has a lot of work to do," said Dixon, the former IRL IndyCar Series champion who drives for Target Chip Ganassi Racing. "As good as our cars have been, we're still struggling in some areas and we need to work on those. So any track time is going to help us, but it's going to help everybody."

Among the drivers still hoping to qualify for the 33-car field are veterans Sarah Fisher, making her debut for her own team, and Davey Hamilton. Fisher was among the slowest drivers Thursday at 219.571, while Hamilton was just a little faster at 220.190.

With rain hampering everyone's preparation since the track opened last week, including washing out the scheduled second day of qualifying last Sunday, nobody is certain what speed it's going to take to make the starting field. In 2007, Marty Roth was the slowest qualifier with a four-lap average of 218.922 and some observers are guessing it's going to be closer to 220 this year.

Fisher is just trying to work around the wet weather.

"Our team being a fresh team to the league and the series, (the rain) has been disappointing," Fisher said. "You have to try to plan around it as best you can, and the Indy 500 is certainly about people who can alter their plans and change for the adverse conditions.

"I think, if anything, it's educating us for race day. I come from sprint cars (where), if you don't it done in four laps, you won't. It gives us some time to work on the car a little bit more and perfect things that we may or may not have had time to do coming into the month of May.

"So, whether or not it's raining, we're still taking advantage of the time and we're still working toward making the car faster and faster every day, whether it's on the track or in the shop," she added.

Hamilton, hoping to make his eighth Indy start, was just happy to get back on track after all the delays.

"This has been a very different week than I have ever had at Indy, with all this rain and such a short amount of track time," he said. "I guess the good thing is that it gives us plenty of time for strategizing, and we know where we want to be and what we're going to do when we go out there."

Former Formula One test driver Enrique Bernoldi, an Indy rookie and a newcomer to American open-wheel racing, got up to 220.579 on Thursday.

"It was good because we had track time because it was my first day on the track since I crashed (last week)," Bernoldi said. "But the weather was not good. The temperature was not good for the tires, so it was kind of frustrating."

Darren Manning, driving for four-time Indy winner A.J. Foyt, turned a fast lap of 220.723 and was just happy to finally be back on track.

"There was a lot of valuable track time, which we've been working for all month," Manning said. "We've had some short days, so we knew what we needed from the car and we were able to get that.

"We spent a lot of time in the garage, thinking about what we needed to do to make it better, and I think we did that. We feel pretty (good) that we can be in the (No.) 12 position, but we also feel we're better for the race and we need to do a bit more and that's why we came in a little early."

Manning said the cool temperatures weren't really a problem.

"The wind was terrible, but if you can make the car comfortable in these conditions, it's a very good car," he said.

[Associated Press; By MIKE HARRIS]

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