Sonoma: Top 10 quotes after Free Practice 2
Team Penske off to fast start at Sonoma
Photo by: IndyCar Series
P. | N° | Driver | Team (Engine) | Laps | Time/deficit |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | Penske | 11 | 1:16.6678 |
"I have to thank Team Penske. The Hitachi car has been dialed in. When we left here last Thursday practice, we felt really confident. We try a lot of bits. I guess that paid off. So today was just a continuation of what we finished that day. It seemed to be working really well." (About Team Penske having the championship clinched): "For the 50th anniversary of Team Penske, having Roger get the championship, having the championship on the 50th anniversary is just a perfect situation for Roger. We're extremely happy, especially after last year, being so close and losing on the last one. Great recovery from the team. As far as my position, I actually talked to my two other drivers to see if they can sort it out, whatever happens, but if it can help out so we can finish 1-2-3 in the championship. That would be a phenomenal year, even that I don't have the chance to win the championship." | |||||
2 | 12 | Will Power | Penske | 13 | 0.0394 |
"I think we're in a good spot. The Verizon Chevy ran well today in practice. We'll go back and look at data and work on what we can do for tomorrow in qualifying. I definitely love this track and it's challenging, but I believe we'll be fine for tomorrow." | |||||
3 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | Penske | 16 | 0.3079 |
"It was really great to get back into the car. It took some of the edginess away. Today was a good start to the weekend for the No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet team. We had good pace in the second session after trying a couple of different things in the morning. I'm looking forward to building on that tomorrow and get a good qualifying result." | |||||
4 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti | 13 | 0.3891 |
"It was a positive day overall; I think we left some time on the table. We know where we have some imbalances to sort out tonight to come back and start Practice 3 and carry on into a qualifying effort. It's a good platform to start from - we're P4 right now and it's encouraging for the DHL team. We've finished second here for the last two years in a row, so we're really hoping to climb one more step up that podium this weekend." | |||||
5 | 98 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti-Herta | 16 | 0.4139 |
"I think so far things are going pretty well. You know, this morning we had a few issues. I think we resolved maybe 70 percent of them this afternoon, so that was positive. But still quite a bit to work on. We got to the front, which we like to see. Overall, I know it's our most positive Friday outside of an oval this year. Couldn't have come at a better time - this is the home race. There's been kind of a lot of activities leading up to this in my hometown, which has been great, but very busy. Happy to be back in a race car at a racetrack, so I don't have to think about that." | |||||
6 | 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Penske | 14 | 0.5158 |
"We made some good progress in the afternoon session. The hum by Verizon Chevy had good balance at the end of the session. This track is fun to race. It's really important to finish on a strong note." | |||||
7 | 26 | Carlos Muñoz | Andretti | 17 | 0.5227 |
"For sure the afternoon was better than the morning. This track, it just comes down to putting everything together, including new tires for your laps. If you aren't getting it right - the second run is slower than everyone, so we will have to get it right on new tires. We have some stuff to improve for tomorrow. We'll see what happens with the weather and everything because this track is really tricky with the wind conditions. So, we will see what happens tomorrow. | |||||
8 | 11 | Sébastien Bourdais | KVSH | 20 | 0.5290 |
"It was an interesting day for the Plantronics - KVSH Racing Team. Obviously not testing here throws you behind the 8-ball, but a pretty decent recovery. It was not great this morning, but not so different from last year. We are making progress from our baseline, which was kind of questionable last year. We had a lot of unanswered questions and we are trying to get some answers. We didn't have the cleanest of sessions. The car is tough to drive, but it's not far off either. It's one of those where you just have to clean your stuff up and put the lap together and fine tune this or that. I don't think anybody has the perfect car. The asphalt is getting really rough over the years and when it is sunny like it was today track temperature goes up and grip goes down. That is always a challenge. Overall, we are in the top 10, not far off a fast six position, so hopefully we can clean things up and make it a little better." | |||||
9 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | Ganassi | 19 | 0.6386 |
"Overall I think it was a pretty good day for the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys. The No. 83 car wasn't quite as good today as when we finished out the test here last week, but we worked to make it better after the morning session. We still have a little room to improve definitely. Being inside the top 10 is good, but not great. We've got to find a little bit of speed to be up front tomorrow but we absolutely have the capability of making it into the Firestone Fast Six tomorrow for qualifying." | |||||
10 | 8 | Max Chilton | Ganassi | 18 | 0.6598 |
"I think we made some really big gains today on track. This morning in first practice we were around second to last, and then in the final session we were in the top 10, which was a big jump forward. There were a few red flags and I realize a few people didn't get their times in, but I think everyone is struggling for grip out there whether it's the temperatures or something else. Everyone seems to have a loose car and we'll work on that tonight before qualifying tomorrow." |
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