Sunday, May 6, 2012

Drivers Testing in Texas With Indy Insight

Monday will see IndyCars on an oval track for a public test, as 11 drivers head to Texas Motor Speedway. The test will be used to see if any changes are needed to the aero specs for the oval event at Texas in June. This test will involve 6 Honda teams and 5 Chevrolet teams and none of the 4 Lotus teams entered for the Indianapolis 500. Rubens Barrichello will be at the test and will be working on his IndyCar rookie oval orientation program on Sunday night. Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Bryan Clauson all completed their oval programs at Texas in early April. None of those three drivers will be at tomorrow's test. Wade Cunningham will be making his first appearance of 2012 at the test as both he and his Indianapolis 500 teammate Mike Conway will be on track for Foyt Enterprises. In three official races last year, Cunningham finished 29th and 26th in the Twin 275s at Texas after qualifying 8th in race one and drawing 2nd for race two. After starting 15th at Kentucky, Cunningham finished in 7th place and ran up in the top 10 for most of the day. Joining the three drivers mentioned above will be Ed Carpenter, Helio Castroneves, Ryan Briscoe and Will Power in Chevrolet powered cars, while the four Ganassi drivers will be rounding out the Honda line-up.

The Indianapolis 500 Rookie Orientation Programs will take place on May 10th and Opening Day at the Speedway is May 12th.