Vautier paces opening practice for Grand Prix of Baltimore
Tristan Vautier has certainly made himself at home on the Streets of Baltimore.
Vautier, who has won at Baltimore in the Pro Mazda Championship and Firestone Indy Lights in the last two years, paced the opening practice day for the Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT.FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS: Practice #1 Results
The Frenchman turned a fast lap of 1 minute, 19.4792 seconds on the 2.04-mile, 12-turn street circuit in the No. 55 Environmental Rail Solutions Schmidt Peterson Motorsports car.
Eight different teams were represented in the top 10 and the top 13 cars were separated by less than a second as drivers and engineers attempted to get a handle on the technically challenging circuit that incorporates Oriole Park at Camden Yards. Twenty-four drivers logged 638 laps through the 90 minutes of track availability without incident.
Graham Rahal, driving the No. 15 blu eCigs car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, was .0838 of a second behind Vautier. Josef Newgarden (1:19.6662) was third in the No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car.
Scott Dixon, who is 39 points behind the front-running Helio Castroneves in the championship chase, was fourth fast (1:19.7027) in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car. Castroneves was 13th in the afternoon session.
Also on Aug. 30, Jack Hawksworth, who has won two of the three Firestone Indy Lights street course races this season, paced the initial practice for the 35-lap Grand Prix of Baltimore on Sept. 1.
Hawksworth, driving the No. 77 Schmidt Peterson with Curb Agajanian car, posted a fast lap of 1 minute, 25.6896 seconds on the 2.04-mile, 12-turn temporary street circuit. Carlos Munoz, who enters the race with a 15-point lead over Gabby Chaves in the championship, was .5448 of a second back in the No. 26 Dialy-Ser car for Andretti Autosport.
DAY 1 NOTEBOOK:
Selected quotes
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet): "(About where Baltimore ranks on his favorite tracks list): "My first year here, we were looking very strong up until unfortunately the warm up, which I'm sure a lot of people remember, Tony Kanaan lost the brakes and I kind of worked as a shock absorber to help him out and absorb the impact. Because of the rules, and I still don't understand why they have these rules, if you change the car you have to start in the back. So when we started in the back, we got caught in some of the scenarios. I wouldn't look at that as a bad result, it was a bad result but it was just an unfortunate situation. Last year we were running pretty solid, we finished in the top 10, so this track is a challenge because in one part of the track it's very smooth, and the other part is extremely bumpy. So it doesn't rank as the toughest one, to be honest, but it's a very challenging one. So I'm looking for it to become my favorite track. Hopefully I'll be able to finish in the top three and it will be one of my favorite tracks." (About how he's going to keep his head in the game to win the championship): "We'll keep doing it exactly the way we started. It sounds like I'm being repetitive, but I am because it's been working. Why try something different right now? It seems that what I've been doing is working. We're being consistent. I wouldn't say only on the driving, but on the pit stops and setup of the car, the way you approach the circuit. Yes, you want to be the fastest guy all the time, you want to win a race, but at this stage the momentum that we have has been pretty good. I don't mind collecting one or two points ahead of my competitors, or lose a few points, but as long as we keep this way, it's different now. We are not on a hunting position at this point, they are hunting us, and I'm not worried about that. I'm worried about continuing doing what we need to do to execute and bring the championship to Team Penske." (About what has changed since last year): "People ask me what has changed, and we did some things internally, a lot of things internally that we changed, but I think it's a combination of a lot of things. And most of all it's the consistency we've been having, and I feel that my competitors are more up and down, and in the past few years always one or two guys stand out and probably that consistency would work out. But right now it's been off and let's keep our fingers crossed."
Andretti Autosport
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 1 DHL Chevrolet): "I see it the same way as last year. We've gotta go. We're not interested in finishing second or third in the championship. It does nothing for us. We need to get going, and we need to make things happen. We rolled the dice a bit at Sonoma, and unfortunately that strategy didn't pay off for us. Things just really haven't been going our way lately. Hopefully it starts to go here. Looking forward to getting back to Baltimore. I have great memories here."
E.J. VISO (No. 5 Team Venezuela CITGO PDVSA Chevrolet): "I think this year, we have everything we need to be capable of being on the podium and winning races. But it's not that easy to do it. There are several factors that need to be in line for that to happen. Everyone on the team, including me is new. We're still gelling, merging. That's a big factor, especially at this level, which is very competitive. That's one of the things we've been do better at as a crew and we're closer to where we need to be."
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet): "I don't have an awesome track record here, but we're looking to change that this weekend. It's a very challenging track. It's very bumpy in some sections and very smooth and newly paved in others. The chicane is always an adventure. The team has really good street course cars all year long, and hopefully, we can make Baltimore pays us back some." (About the need for a face of Indy car racing): "Who's the face of football? Who's the face of hockey? There are so many good football players. There are so many good hockey players, basketball players. I don't think any sport has a face. It's the interaction between drivers and those things really make. I don't think we should do that, and I don't there's anyone that could fill that role if the route the series wanted to take. (Would you take it): I'd insist they interview Hunter-Reay for the position because what people don't know about Ryan is that he's one of the funniest guys I know. The problem with E.J. is he's a little too inappropriate. He's funny, but not sure we need everybody to know." (About winning auctions at the Yellow Party): "It was one of those paper setups and you left your name and number and I got a text message about an hour after leaving congratulating me on all the new purchases that I hadn't bid on. All for a good cause. I would have paid twice as much. I don't how much I paid, but I would have paid twice as much. I just hope (E.J.) personalizes the E.J. Viso visor I bought."
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Dr Pepper Chevrolet): "We've been hanging in there, but I', not exactly where I want to be. We should have a couple of wins already. What I thought was going to be the strongest part of my season turned out to be the weakest. The oval championship is what's pulling me out of the overall championship. That's the way it works some times. You just have to keep showing up every week. Our consistency is there. I haven't been out of the top-10 twice, but it's not enough for the championship. If we still want those hopes alive, this weekend is crucial in terms of getting the win.
The dry-condition (slick) tire specifications for Baltimore are the same as used at four previous street courses this season - St. Petersburg, Long Beach, Detroit and Toronto. The wet-condition (grooved) spec is the same that debuted in 2012. Of note, one set = four tires.
Primary (black-sidewall): o Each entry receives five sets* for the race weekend (*-each entry must complete at least five laps during the first practice session to earn the fifth set of primary tires from its weekend allotment); rookie drivers and those outside the top 10 in points receive a sixth set that must be returned following the first practice session.
Alternate (red-sidewall): o The alternates pair the same tire construction as the primary with a softer tread compound to provide more grip and faster lap times, while trading off some compound durability.o Each entry receives three sets for the race weekend.
Wet-condition (rain): o Each entry has five sets available for the race weekend.
IndyCar Series rules mandate each car use two dry-condition tire specifications in road- or street-course races - the primary and alternate specs. All cars must use at least one set of primary tires and one new ("sticker") alternate set during the race, each for a minimum of two laps, with at least one lap under green-flag conditions. Otherwise, teams are free to use their weekend tire allotment at their discretion.
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Environmental Rail Solutions (ERS), a transportation logistics management company, will serve as primary sponsor on Tristan Vautier's No. 55 car for the Grand Prix of Baltimore.
ERS has been a recognized leader for the past decade in the transportation of hazardous, non-hazardous and radioactive material. ERS owner Lisa Ardito, along with her husband David, met Schmidt Peterson Motorsports owner Sam Schmidt in 2011 at the inaugural Grand Prix of Baltimore.
"We brought our daughter to the Grand Prix of Baltimore in 2011 and we ended up meeting Sam Schmidt and striking up a great friendship," David Ardito said. "Sam (Schmidt) took us under his wing and showed us how amazing and unique Indy car racing is. We couldn't be more proud to be sponsoring Tristan (Vautier) as he attacks the Streets of Baltimore this weekend."
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Selected quotes from Justin Wilson and Stefan Wilson
STEFAN WILSON (No. 18 Nirvana Tea Honda): "I kind of described it as being thrown into the deep end of the pool with no arm bands on, getting to debut here at the Grand Prix of Baltimore. After the first practice session, I say it was more like being thrown into the ocean without arm bands. There's definitely a huge learning curve, it's definitely one of the toughest tracks in the series. It's so bumpy out there, there's a lot of sections, it doesn't really take much to lock the wheel and find yourself in a tricky position." (About his goals for the weekend): "It's tricky, definitely want to put on a good showing. I think that will definitely help me for next year. But at the same time we've got to set realistic expectations. Without a lot of testing and without a lot of seat time in the Indy car. It's going to be a lot to get up to speed. I just need to do the best I can and the main thing for me is to come out of the weekend knowing more than when I came into the weekend. I'm just treating it as an opportunity to gain experience if something does come about next year. It's important to go out there and have a clean race just so other teams can see that I have what it takes to be in the series." (About Justin): "There's quite a bit of age gap. I've spent a lot of my life looking up to Justin and seeing his achievement. I hope I'm able to achieve what he has in his career. Taking away the brother factor from the weekend. I want it to be a normal weekend where we are two teammates working together to get the best out of the car. Justin has had some tremendous teammates through the years. I want to do just as well as them and be considered by him to be as good. Hopefully, he'll see me not as a brother nagging him but as a teammate." (Who wins it comes down to you two?): "We crash. (laughing). We need to treat each other like every other race and every other car. It's the only thing we can do. If we start thinking about racing each other, then Tony Kanaan will get around both of us."
JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): "I've had quite a few teammates this season. I sat down with (RACER's Marshall Pruett) to go through them and figure out how many, but we lost count. It's great to have my brother as my teammate. It's kind of a mixed emotions. On one hand, it's good to have him as a teammate and I want to try to help him and see him get the maximum out of it and reach his potential. At the same time, I have to try to focus on what I'm trying to do and get the most out of myself. It's trying to not compromise my weekend just to help (Stefan), but trying to help him as much as I can. Whether that's going through data, talking about the track and car. There's a lot of information to go over and a lot of people asking questions that I don't know the answer to. It's all about working out where you are and what you want to achieve." (About the age difference between the two) "There's 11 years difference between us. I remember being 15 and Stef was 4. He was wanting to hang out with me and I wanted to hang out with my mates. I was holding the bedroom door shut while he was banging on it trying to get inside. I also remember when I first came to in the States in 2004 and I was looking at the pictures yesterday. Stef came over an hung out at Long Beach. I have a picture where he is sitting in my Minardi F1 car and can't see over the steering wheel." (Who wins it comes down to you two?): "We've got to race like we race everyone else. That's the only way to be on track."
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INDYCAR officials have added point-of-reference "courtesy zones" to the outside edges of each pit box to aid in monitoring pit stop conduct and etiquette in the Grand Prix of Baltimore presented by SRT. The courtesy zones are defined by 45-degree dotted lines as part of the painted pit boxes.
INDYCAR added rule 7.9.17 to the IZOD IndyCar Series rulebook to reinforce its pit stop code of conduct: Any participant who, in the opinion of the officials, positions a car, equipment, and/or personnel so as to create a hazard or disruption of the event or to interfere with the activities of another competitor may be penalized.
The lines will remain part of pit boxes defined by paint for the three races left in the IZOD IndyCar Series season.
INDYCAR also amended its rule regarding display of the blue flag, which calls for a driver to give consideration to an approaching car attempting to overtake.
Rule 7.2.5.2: When displayed from the starters stand to a lapped car, as ordered directly by the Race Director, the blue flag is a command to immediately give way. During the race, any car failing to give way within one lap of the display of the blue flag from the starters stand will be penalized.
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Selected quotes from Jimmy Vasser and Tony Kanaan
TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Hydroxycut KV Racing Technology-SH Racing: (About breaking the consecutive starts record): "Well obviously as a race car driver you never count laps or count numbers of races, and obviously when this question popped up in the beginning of the year, I thought it was pretty cool for many reasons. I think, we won the 500, and it was all about numbers and stuff, that me and Jimmy got hooked into this thing. All the sudden 212...12 was Jimmy's number, and here we are again talking about it. I think I'm thrilled, honestly, at achieving such a record. It proves that, I don't know if I'm a tough guy or not, I've raced through some of the injuries that I've had in the past, but hopefully I'll be able to hold on for like 14 years like Jimmy did. I have some tough competition behind me, young guys that are going to be here forever, so hopefully we'll keep stretching that so it will take a long time to beat." (About his career highlights) "I think we have plenty. I would say winning the Indy Lights championship was obviously what gave me the opportunity to jump to the big cars. When I signed with Andretti, which was the biggest team I had ever signed with, won Honda's first race in INDYCAR, which was my first win as well in the series. Then the 500. Signing the contract the week before the race with my good friend Jimmy was definitely, I would say, with all of those probably that was the happiest moment because of different circumstances. But I think, obviously the 500, especially the way we did it. It could have come in very different ways over the past 12 years. I don't know if somebody had a plan for that, but just the way that weekend happened with Zanardi, the medal, Jimmy. I sat down at a press conference the other day, somebody asked me the other day 'What was the best picture of the weekend?' And I have to say, Zanardi crying after the race, which I've never seen that before, and when Jimmy hopped on the side of the car, those are the moments I'm going to take. I know I have the ring and they're going to put my face on the trophy, those things are obviously cool, but the memories are what's going to last. So that's probably the best one."
JIMMY VASSER (Co-owner, KV Racing Technology): (About Tony Kanaan breaking the record): "It's cool. He touched on it a little bit, with 212 (straight starts). We had kind of this numerological thing in Indianapolis that the stars were aligning for us. Twelve was my number when I drove, and it is a thread through a lot of my life, my wine is now V12. So Tony qualified 12th, started 12th at Indy and we were in pit box 12. He's number 11, so the 11s and the 12s were coming up all the time and we were joking about it."
Selected quotes from Luca Filippi
LUCA FILIPPI (No. 98 Barracuda Racing Honda): "It's a great track, a great circuit. I've been to other street circuits in my career, obviously they are different. Monte Carlo is smoother but slower, and I've been in Singapore, which is probably as bumpy but faster and maybe wider. So it's nice to have another street circuit to keep learning in my career in motorsport, and I'm enjoying it very much because it's tricky, it's not easy at all. You find different surface on another lap, and it's very challenging. From the bumpy point of view, we all know how bumpy it is, but it actually in the car it feels better than what it looks. Probably the IndyCar engineers now are so used to making setups on the street circuits that driving the car doesn't feel bad at all in these bumps. Even under braking, there's a good grip all around. For me it's just a matter to improve on my driving for this new circuit, so it takes a little more time to learn, and also to make the car more suitable and more drivable for me. But this morning was very useful, so I'm looking forward to this afternoon.
IZOD INDYCAR SERIES PRACTICE #1:
10:10 a.m. - GREEN.
10:13 a.m. - RED FLAG. #7 Bourdais off track in Turn 5. Car is restarted by Holmatro Safety Team and return to the pit lane under its own power.
10:16 a.m. - GREEN.
10:29 a.m. - RED FLAG. #18 S. Wilson off track in Turn 5. Cars are restarted by Holmatro Safety Team and return to the pit lane under its own power.
10:32 a.m. - GREEN.
10:37 a.m. - RED FLAG. Debris on course between Turns 4 and 5.
10:40 a.m. - GREEN.
10:55 a.m. - CHECKERED.
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IZOD INDYCAR SERIES PRACTICE #2:
At 2:30 p.m., the ambient temperature was 87 degrees with a relative humidity of 48 percent and winds from the south at 10 mph. Skies were cloudy. The track temperature was 109 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.
2:30 p.m. - GREEN. #19 J. Wilson is first on track.
2:41 p.m. - RED FLAG. Debris in Turn 1.
2:45 p.m. - GREEN.
3:08 p.m. - RED FLAG. #19 J. Wilson has stopped on course in Turn 3 after a spin. Car returns to the pits under its own power.
3:11 p.m. - GREEN.
3:15 p.m. - CHECKERED. #12 Power makes contact with the tire barrier in Turn 9 with the nose. RED FLAG.
GRAND PRIX OF BALTIMORE PRACTICE QUOTES:
CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Honda): "Overall, we went through quite a few changes. It was a clean day for the No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen car but we'll look at things overnight. It's nice to have teammates; we'll look at their lap times for comparison. We'll figure out where we need to get better for tomorrow and be ready for qualifying."
JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): "We just keep trying to learn things. Try to work out where the car is going to align and where you can get back on the power and try to miss the walls. It's a crazy track. It's throwing the cars around a lot. They don't spend much time on the ground. It's a handful and we just have to try to work it out and move up the time sheet."
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "It was a decent start to the weekend today for the Verizon team. I think we still have a bit of work to do on the car to get it to where it needs to be and find some more speed. The track itself is very physical, especially the chicanes. Those are pretty tough. On the last lap there in the afternoon session I just locked up the tires going into Turn 9 and fortunately there wasn't much in the way of damage to the front wing. We'll give it another go tomorrow."
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda): "We had a good day. We just have to stay on top of it because cars can get away pretty quick in this championship. I think we're off to a great start, we just have to have a good weekend and try and get ourselves back in these races. We've had a couple of rough weekends and I think we could get really good results here and that would be good for everybody so that's what we're focused on."
ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): "This is always a tough track. The first session I didn't do a good job putting quality laps together. In the second session, we were a little better in trying to close the gap on the leaders. But we still have a lot of work to do for Saturday. The track changes every year that we have been here. It is never the same curbs and the walls are a little different too. In fact, it is almost like learning a new track every year. The first day is always rough on the teams with the different pavement and concrete surfaces too."
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): "I think the main thing about today is that we didn't take a set of new tires at the end of the second practice session like a lot of other teams did. We didn't do a lot of running overall today, just about 12 laps or so. We worked on overall balance of the car and I'm reasonably happy to this point with the Target car. We'll stay after it and hopefully have a good result in qualifying tomorrow."
DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Cessna Honda): "Obviously this morning's first practice session was a bit of a non-issue after the sensor issue we had on the throttle. (Car was limited to five laps) This afternoon the Cessna car wasn't too bad. We still have a lot of work to do. We definitely made progress every run thus far, and it's really bumpy out there. But it's the same for everyone."
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet): "Baltimore is a different kind of place. It's a bumpy track, for sure, and it takes a lot out of you. If you put a good lap together here you're really doing something because it's very difficult to control the car. But the PPG Team Penske guys did a good job today and we're looking for a brighter day tomorrow. We'll be ready to go for qualifying."
TRISTAN VAUTIER (No. 55 Environmental Rail Solutions Schmidt Peterson Honda): "It's very special to have the Environmental Rail Solutions logo on the car. It started pretty good for us, we unloaded pretty good this morning and kept the momentum going through this afternoon. It's been pretty special, it just keeps going faster and faster for us. I don't know, I just love this place. We started well, but I think it's going to be about keeping improving because everybody is going to keep improving and it's always very hard to put everything together at the right time. So I have to really keep focused and keep executing really well to stay up there."
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 blu eCigs Honda): "Well it's an improvement over where we've been. I think that if we felt confident at any of our disciplines this year, the street courses seem to be where our team has been pretty strong. Combining that with the gains that we found at Sonoma, it seems to be working pretty well. We're all very pleased with the blu eCigs car, I think that the guys have done a phenomenal job putting us in a good spot to start with. Really, what's been nice is that we've only been just doing fine tweaks, we haven't made any big changes, and that's something all year that we've done. From one session to another it'd be a big roll center, and this that and the other thing, and you never can work on the car then, you're always chasing yourself. I think we found some things and I hope it carries over to tomorrow. I'm sure everybody will say this, but I know on old tires I can get up a couple of tenths on my best lap to the sector through here, so I know there's a little bit more time in it. However I was pretty surprised that those times held up, because we started this session on new tires and we did that time pretty early. I really thought that someone else would jump up there in the meantime, but it feels good, just going to keep working it."
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda): "The ride was unbelievable. It's a bumpy track so your goal is to make the car ride the bumps well. The team has just done a great job in giving me a car that is capable of winning the race this weekend. Some weekends you're trying so hard and you can't quite get the speed but this weekend we feel very strong."
JAMES JAKES (No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Honda): ""We have an issue with the brake pedal and I think it has been going on for some time now maybe going back to Mid-Ohio. We've got to figure it out and see what's going on because as of right now it's almost undriveable. It's frustrating."
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 1 DHL Chevrolet): "It's tough. Right now we need to regroup as a team and go forward with some testing tomorrow. We're all a little bit off paced from where we need to be. At the moment, the way the curbs and chicanes are set up you need to put your car at major risk to get the lap time. I'm not quite there on putting the DHL Chevy at full risk - we'll see, I'm fully confident we'll be on it for tomorrow."
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Dr Pepper Chevrolet): "We totally went the wrong way today, but we were trying something that we thought we needed for qualifying tomorrow. I'm glad we got it out of the way today because now we know and won't be a change behind tomorrow. I think we are headed in the right direction and can hopefully see the Dr Pepper car in the (Firestone) Fast Six. tomorrow"
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet): "It's funny. We're coming off a race where we had two full test days before a full race weekend; you felt like you had all the time in the world and still it wasn't enough to do all the changes you want to do. With street circuits there is no testing and we had a bunch of things we wanted to accomplish today, and I'd say we actually got most of them done - which for us this year is saying something, we haven't had the best luck at doing that so far. The times don't look awesome, we didn't get new tires there at the end, but largely I'm actually pretty happy with the GoDaddy car. We made small changes on it during the last session because the lunch changes were really good. Hopefully we can keep fine tuning things here and there because I think we're pretty close. It's definitely a car that can fight for the (Firestone) Fast Six."
E.J. VISO (No. 5 Team Venezuela PDVSA Citgo Chevrolet): ""Tough day. I think as a team, we are not where we are supposed to be. We just definitely need to work hard tonight and come up with some good changes and good ideas for tomorrow. It is extremely competitive, and it seems this track helps and really suits the Honda teams; I'm sure that overnight there will be some changes happening from us and Team Chevy."
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FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS PRACTICE #1:
At 1:25 p.m., the ambient temperature was 87 degrees with a relative humidity of 51 percent and winds from the northeast at 2 mph. Skies were mosty cloudy. The track temperature was 115 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.
1:25 p.m. - GREEN.
1:42 p.m. -- #2 Garcia has climbed from his car after he made light contact with the wall at the exit of the Pratt Street chicane. Crew reports suspension damage.
2:10 p.m. - CHECKERED.
FIRESTONE INDY LIGHTS POST PRACTICE QUOTES:
JACK HAWKSWORTH (No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports c/w Curb Agajanian): "With Star Mazda we went out at nine in the morning, and to be honest it was a bit of a waste of time, it was that dirty. But this afternoon, and man the track was in great condition. As soon as we rolled out there was rubber on the circuit, track felt good and we went out and did some work." (About changes he made during the session): "Not many, just a couple of little tweaks. We didn't want to get too far away from what we know works, we were pretty comfortable with the car straight off the truck. It felt pretty good. So there were a couple things with the balance which I wanted to change. There's just so many tricks to this place. It's so bumpy, there's a lot of different asphalt and stuff, so you're kind of tuning the car around the different aspects of the circuit, so we just tweaked things and kind of massaged the car a bit. And now we'll go back and share what we've done and work overnight. It's great to have a break now in between today and tomorrow because there's a lot of information to look at and a lot of things to think about before we go stick on the line in qualifying."
CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 26 Dialy-Ser/Andretti Autosport): "Today's practice seemed quite short. We didn't have much time on track, but I feel good. I think we have to improve a little bit... we'll make a couple changes overnight. It's only the beginning of the weekend, and we still have one more practice for qualifying tomorrow, so we have to work hard and start the weekend off the right way."
SAGE KARAM (No. 8 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports c/w Curb Agajanian): "It wasn't a bad session for us. Our teammate Jack (Hawksworth) is very fast so we've just got to go back to the debrief room and figure some things out. I was having an issue with locking up the brakes. I just couldn't hit the brake pedal at all which really affected my lap times. So we'll go back to the transporters and figure things out so that we come back really strong tomorrow."
GABBY CHAVES (No. 7 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports c/w Curb Agajanian): "We've got a good car and both of my teammates are up there pretty high on the time charts. I'm definitely not worried about the car, even though track time is essential here. The guys will work through whatever issues we find. We'll be ok and we've still got one more practice session. This happened in Mid-Ohio too when we had a tire issue in our first practice session. We just kept calm and worked through it and we were able to go on and win the race there."
ZACH VEACH (No. 12 Replay XD/Andretti Autosport): "Today, with the new Replay car, it didn't go exactly how we wanted with a P6 in the session. My engineer and I want to take a chance because it's still early in the weekend and try something that worked for him last year. The thing is, the track has really gripped up compared to this point last year, so I think we made the wrong call on that. But my Andretti guys are great at recovering and we'll go back and be strong tomorrow morning and through qualifying. I just want to thank Replay for joining in on the No. 12 car this weekend - we're going to be working really hard to get Replay their first win."
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SATURDAY'S SCHEDULE (all times local):
6 a.m.
Garages open
8 - 8:45 a.m.
Firestone Indy Lights practice #2
9:05-9:50 a.m.
IZOD IndyCar Series practice #3
10:55 - 11:40 a.m.
Firestone Indy Lights Sunoco Pole Qualifying (All cars)
Noon-1:10 p.m.
IZOD IndyCar Series qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award (Knockout qualifying/Firestone Fast Six)
