IZOD IndyCar Series
Practice Update: 97th Indianapolis 500
Michael Andretti, Team Owner, Andretti Autosport
" I think they're going pretty good, but we still have a lot of work to do. I don't think any of them are exactly where we want them to be, but I'm not sure a lot of people can say that yet, so overall we're pretty happy."
On the progress of Indianapolis rookie Carlos Munoz:
"He's been doing a great job; he's on pace and one of our quickest cars every day. He's put in a lot of good miles, and it's been a lot of good experience."
James Hinchcliffe, No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet
Hinchcliffe, who finished today's practice in the top position with a speed posted by teammate Marco Andrett's car, has shown promising speed in each of the first three practice days.
"It's good to be up there. But, at the end of the day, those numbers don't mean a lot right now. It's about the work you do on the race car and making sure the No. 27 GoDaddy car is going to be good not only on one lap, but over 200 (laps)."
About benefit of driving teammate Marco Andretti's car:
"I get see how good I look in red and blue. There are some things we wanted to see and suss out, and that's the way to do it; it's not uncommon. Guys have done it in the past -- especially this team. I think TK (Tony Kanaan) drove every single car on the team at some point during the month. It's standard procedure to feel a couple of things out."
Marco Andretti, No. 25 RC Cola Chevrolet
Marco Andretti continued to show his pace on Tuesday, setting the third fastest lap of the day at 223.570 mph in his RC Cola Chevrolet. Later, Marco switched cars with teammate James Hinchcliffe and ran a lap at 221.972mph -- eleventh fastest -- in the No. 27 GoDaddy car, while James took the No. 25 out and posted the fastest lap of the day at 224.210mph.
"I think today went well. I'm quite pleased with how things are going for us so far. Working with the car in the heat of the day can be challenging, but we made a lot of progress to get where we are. Everyone is getting faster out there -- so I have to stay on my toes to stay ahead of the curve. We will look at different setups with the car and hopefully find more speed by race day. Everyday I'm excited to get in the car and get to work -- Pole Day is coming up and we need to be ready."
Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 1 DHL Chevrolet
Defending series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay ended Tuesday with the fifth-fastest lap at 223.332 mph and is ranked third in the combined practice charts.
"It's certainly getting interesting now with the heat and the wind. Conditions are changing every day so it's keeping the team on our toes, and we're just trying a lot of different settings now. We have five cars so we have a lot of options and, I think, as we work through the week we'll work ourselves into a good car. But it's a work in progress."
E.J. Viso, No. 5 Team Venezuela PDVSA CITGO Chevrolet
Viso was shown sixth fastest on the time sheets with a lap of 223.138mph on Tuesday -- the Venezuelan's fastest speed so far this month at IMS. The 28-year-old turned 134 laps this afternoon, the most out of any driver.
"Very long day for me today; I completed 134 laps -- it's enough to get the engine swapped. Anyways, it was a very good, productive day. We went through some tests...which we found some good answers. We did a couple of long runs with the rest of the Andretti Autosport guys, and we are still finding new answers every time we go on a run together. Today was a little bit hotter than the other days, and the weather predictions say that race day is going to be even a bit hotter than today. So I think the running that we did today was pretty productive to gather some data."
Carlos Muñoz, No. 26 Unistraw Chevrolet
After three days of practice, the Colombian recorded the eighth fastest lap of the day at 223.110 mph in the No. 26 Unistraw Chevrolet. It was also the fastest lap by a rookie in the afternoon.
"It was another good day of practicing a few different race simulations; I learned a lot on each of them. The conditions were hotter today then that last few practice sessions, so I had to adjust with each of the new tests. The track had a lot less grip, but that is something we need to keep working on in the upcoming days. There are still a lot of days left to figure out which run is going to work, but my team is working really hard to find the best one. I'm feeling more and more comfortable with the No. 26 Unistraw Chevy, and I think our team is doing a good job, but we need to take it day-by-day. Each time I go out on-track I'm gaining more confidence, especially on the race runs with my teammates and other drivers."
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