Open Test Underway
Racingone.com
The IndyCar Series opened the 2009 season with an Open Test at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Twenty drivers began a five-hour practice session at 4 p.m. ET on the 1.5-mile oval, including four past champions, nine race winners and four rookies. The 20 cars and drivers on track is the most at an Open Test since the Test in the West Feb. 6, 2002 at California Speedway.
2008 champion Scott Dixon paced the field at the dinner break with a best lap of 25.2919 seconds, 211.372 mph. Dixon recorded the first of six victories in 2008 at the facility.
"We're pretty pleased with the results so far," Dixon said.
"A lot of our focus was making the car better on older tires. Balance was another thing we spent quite a bit of time on. Overall we're just trying to pick up where the team left off at the end of last season and start the year off on the right foot."
After Dixon, Ryan Briscoe, Dario Franchitti, Mario Moraes and Will Power rounded off the top five.
"It was great to get back in the Team Penske car this afternoon," Briscoe said.
"We had a lot of time to test several things, and the session also gave me the perfect opportunity to work with my new race engineer. Today was a lot about learning to understand each other. All in all I'm happy with how the day went, and I think we were able to make a lot of gains."
2004 series champion Tony Kanaan finished eighth during Tuesday's test. "Homestead is such a particular track," Kanaan said.
"Although it's an oval, you can't test at Homestead for Richmond, you can't test at Homestead for Iowa, so it's definitely just to get the team motion going, the team working together, teammates adapting to new engineers, different engineers, different stuff that we learned over the course of the winter. It's going to be great just to be back on the racetrack."
Two drivers who are still finalizing their racing plans were late additions to the list of drivers for the Open Test at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Milka Duno tested the No. 23 Newman/Haas/Lanigan entry, while Justin Wilson drove the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing entry.
Duno made 18 starts for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing in 2007-08, recording a best finish of 14th at Chicagoland Speedway where she led five laps.
"It's a good opportunity for me to test with this championship team," Duno said.
"It's always a driver's dream to be with a good team. I learned a lot with Robbie Buhl and everyone at Dreyer & Reinbold (Racing) last year and I'll miss talking with them every day.
"The plan is to do the whole championship (season). It's now up to me to do a good job. They know how to win a race. When you work hard and have the right conditions, good things will come. It was a small team but we had big potential. Every day I learned something new."
Wilson made 16 starts in the IndyCar Series in 2008 as a rookie with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, recording a victory on the streets of Belle Isle in Detroit.
"Obviously, we're looking forward to joining Dale Coyne Racing for this test and hopefully for the season," Wilson said.
"We're still working on finalizing things. The main thing is take it easy, one step at a time. There are no prizes for the test. We'll build up to speed, work on our car and take it from there.
"It's more getting to know each other than prove ourselves right now. I'm excited to be working with a great engineer in Bill Pappas. We feel that we can do a lot with a little provided everything goes ahead."
Testing continues until 10 p.m. ET and resumes from 4-10 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 25.
The 2009 IndyCar Series season opens April 5 with the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. The race will be telecast live at 2 p.m. (EDT) by VERSUS. The 2009 Firestone Indy Lights season begins with a doubleheader race weekend April 4-5 at St. Petersburg.