For Immediate Release
Contact: Ryann Rigsby
(317) 872-2700 x 275
ryann.rigsby@andrettiautosport.com
IZOD IndyCar Series
Practice Report: Grand Prix of Long Beach
Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Chevrolet
Hunter-Reay, currently third in the championship points standings, topped the time charts for day one of IndyCar practice on the streets of Long Beach. The defending series champion and 2010 Long Beach Grand Prix race winner is looking for a second consecutive win after taking the twin checkers at Barber Motorsports Park two weeks ago.
"It was great to be back on track here at Long Beach. It is always a great day when we open up practice here. It was a weird day; we just never a rhythm with the stoppages and incidents out there. I really didn't get to see who was involved or what happened; i t took a little bit of time out of what we were trying to accomplish with the DHL car. But that is just part of street racing. Again, it was just great to be on track here. Always have loved Long Beach. Love getting back into a rhythm with this race track, and unfortunately, Mike (Conway, second fastest today) likes it too. It's a good time out there. We're always just pushing each other. Unfortunately we didn't get enough work done today on my car that we wanted to heading into qualifying on Saturday. We'll get done in the morning, hopefully, in practice three, and look forward to qualifying."
James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
Hinchcliffe was the quickest driver in today's morning session and ended the day ninth fastest in his GoDaddy.com Chevy. This will be the Canadian's third start in Long Beach, where he recorded his first career podium (third place) in 2012.
"Strong first day, I think, for the whole team. We had a quick car in practice one, and I think we had a quick car in practice two. W e didn't get to put the laps together because of all the red flags. It's unfortunate, you know, we're not getting as much track time as we'd like. There are things we want to test and things we want to try, and just haven't been able to get to them. When you look at Barber and this week again here... there's just not enough track time to really go through it. It's tough. It makes it difficult for everyone, but it's the same for everyone. We're doing a pretty good job as a team, and hopefully we can do it tomorrow when it counts in qualifying and get the Go Daddy car up front."
Marco Andretti, No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet
Andretti spent the first day of practice trimming out the RC Cola machine in preparation for tomorrow's qualifying session, and ended the day 17th fastest.
"The RC Cola car felt pretty good today. There is still a lot of speed out there for us to find, and I am feeling optimistic thinking about our potential heading into tomorrow's practice. Today we tried a lot of different things, but setups are always a tricky thing to figure out. It's great that the track is pretty similar to a year ago, so we can definitely put something together that will keep us competitive this weekend."
E.J. Viso, No. 5 Team Venezuela PDVSA CITGO Chevrolet
Plagued by numerous red flags, day one of practice did not allow for Viso (or the rest of the field) to get many laps; the Venezuelan ended the day in P22 overall.
"First testing day was a little bit tough for us. There's been plenty of red flags due to accidents, and the mileage has been pretty limited. Anyways, we are still working on the setup - still need to find the right one for us. We are going to have a good sit-down with the guys (tonight) and just analyze our data and make a wise decision for tomorrow."
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