IndyCar: Team Penske Dominates in Japan

The Penske trio was at their best again in the first practice session on the road course at Twin Ring Motegi in Japan.  The trio of Will Power, Helio Castroneves, and Ryan Briscoe took three of the top four positions on the speed chart in the only practice session of the afternoon.

Power, as predicted, led the way in the one-hour and fifteen minute practice session with a top speed of 107.955 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Wireless Honda.

Teammate Helio Castroneves was second quickest at 107.823 mph.

The slowest of the Penske bunch was Ryan Briscoe, who clocked in at fourth quickest with a speed of 107.186 mph.

The Penske trio will have another great opportunity to sweep the top three positions in the finishing order on Sunday.  They did this a few weeks ago in Sonoma.

Sandwiched in the Penske trio was rookie James Hinchcliffe.  Hinchcliffe was third on the day with a lap of 107.546 mph in the No. 06 Sprott Honda for Newman/Hass Racing.  Hinchcliffe also has an important weekend in that he’s only a few points behind fellow rookie J.R. Hildebrand for the lead in the Rookie of the Year standings.

Rounding out the top five on the speed charts was Andretti Autosport’s Marco Andretti.  Andretti turned a lap of 107.111 mph in the No. 26 Venom Energy Drink Honda.

Current Izod IndyCar Series Points leader Dario Franchitti was a disappointing seventh quickest today.  Franchitti turned a lap at 107.055 mph around the Twin Ring circuit. His teammates weren’t any better.

Scott Dixon, who currently sits third in points, was 15th quickest on the charts.  The other two in the Ganassi stable, rookie Charlie Kimball and Graham Rahal, were 20th and 22nd, respectively.

The women of the series had a disappointing session.  They were the slowest three of the day.

Danica Patrick led the women’s brigade with 24th quickest on the day with a lap of 105.888 mph in the Go Daddy Honda.

Simona de Silvestro was right behind her in 25th with a lap of 105.854 mph and Ana Beatriz was the slowest with a speed of 105.831 mph.

Today’s practice session actually took place at 2 AM. 

The cars will return to the track for an hour-long session at 8 PM tonight, which is 9 AM Japan time, for a warm-up session for qualifying.  They will also run from 11-midnight tonight in the last warm-up before qualifying which will happen at 2 AM.