SFHR Indy 500 practice day 6 report

SFHR Steers into Race Mode

Josef Newgarden, Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda

Photo by: Michael C. Johnson

INDIANAPOLIS, Thursday, May 16, 2012 – Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing moved one step closer to fine-tuning the Indianapolis 500 race day setups for Josef Newgarden and Bryan Clauson on day six of practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Newgarden hovered near the top of the speed charts for most of the day and ended up second quick with a lap of 222.709 mph. The No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone car turned a total of 25 laps.

Bryan Clauson, driving the No. 39 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing with Curb Agajanian Dallara/Honda/Firestone car, finished the day 15th with a quick lap of 220.489 mph.

SFHR will switch from race to qualification mode tomorrow for Fast Friday. As the last day of practice before Pole Day, Fast Friday typically sees speeds elevate as teams trim their cars in preparation for qualifying.

: “JOSEF NEWGARDEN (Driver- Nashville, Tenn.) “Today we only worked on race setup. We’ll start back on qualifying tomorrow when we get the boost. We just picked up today where we left off yesterday and continued working in the race direction.”

“We’ve had a great week and we just need to continue what we’ve been doing. SFHR has done a great job. They’ve built a quick, beautiful Dollar General race car. The Honda power has been quick and reliable. We’ve just got to keep up the work this weekend and put it all together next Sunday for the race.”

“BRYAN CLAUSON (Driver- Noblesville, Ind.) "We worked a lot with our teammate Josef today and tried to utilize each other to see how the car would work in traffic. In one run it was just Josef and I together, and then in another run we tagged on to a big pack. We made some gains today on how our car handled in traffic and we learned about what we need to do as drivers to maximize their performance."