UpdateF1 >> Formula 1 News > Rahal tops IndyCar practice

Season underway in St. Pete's

Graham Rahal clocked the best time during IndyCar practice at St. Petersburg for the first race of the season. The Newman/Haas/Lanigan driver was closely followed by his former teammate Justin Wilson (Dale Coyne) and series returnee Dario Franchitti (Ganassi). E.J. Viso impressed in fourth for HVM while series champion Scott Dixon put in the seventh time.

Qualifying will take place today at 4pm GMT. Follow all the IndyCar action online on indycar.com.

Post-practice quotes

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 02 McDonald's Racing Team, fastest): "I think for the whole McDonald's crew it's been a pretty good day. This morning we came out of the box and we were 10th, and I think some of the guys were a little worked up but we knew that the car was quick. As Justin (Wilson) just said, even in the first session we couldn't ultimately get our good lap. We got held up a little bit but that doesn't really matter. In the second session we knew we had a pretty good car. It was all about trying to find some little tweaks that were going to help us in the long run. We ran old tires for quite awhile. We were still right up there in the top five, so we were pretty happy with that. Then we threw the new tires on and obviously things went pretty well. We got caught behind Danica (Patrick), which kind of hurt us a bit because it seemed like you could be three seconds back and still catch her in a lap, so that kind of got me out of my rhythm. I kept having to back up into him (Wilson) and I'm sure that got him out of his rhythm. But we got one good lap in, and obviously we're pretty happy with that. There's still a little bit left on the table, but overall for the whole McDonalds team this has been a pretty good day."

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Sonny's Bar-B-Q, second): "I think we had a pretty good day. The Sonny's Bar-B-Q car was working well and we were able to keep working on it. We were trying to get the ride quality even better to absorb some bumps out here, because that's a pretty big part of it. I'm very pleased with the progress. I think this afternoon is not a true reflection of what we can do or of what everyone else can do because it was pretty messy out there at the end. With 22 cars, everyone is eager to get the season started. So there were lots of little incidents going on out there, but I think we are in good shape and hopefully we can stick it in the top six tomorrow and challenge for that pole position."

TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Team 7-Eleven, fifth): "It was a good day for Team 7-Eleven. We didn't run this morning in the first session, but we have a decent car, so I am pleased and looking forward to qualifying tomorrow."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 6 Team Penske, sixth): "It's really exciting to be back here in St. Petersburg and get this season started again. It was a fun day; we didn't run a whole lot this morning, because of the weather and we wanted to save tires for qualifying and the race. The Team Penske car feels pretty good thus far. We're not perfect yet but I think we'll be fine for tomorrow. We certainly have high hopes for this weekend."

WILL POWER (No. 3 Team Penske, eighth): "It was a good first day for me with Team Penske. We had a bit of weather in the first session, which held us up a little. We're quietly confident about tomorrow, and we're going to sit down tonight and have a good think about qualifying. I think there's a lot of fast guys out there, so we'll have our work cut out for us to get into the top six."

DANICA PATRICK (No. 7 Motorola, 10th): "I would have to say we are heading in the right direction. The Motorola car got faster throughout the day, so hopefully we will be where we need to be for qualifying tomorrow."

Written: Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:51:18