Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg

[DanicaFan]

Practice Session 1 results are in. Dario Franchitti tops the speed chart in this first practice. Tony Kanaan didnt run any practice laps.

Here are the times..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Time / Speed / Best Lap

1. #10 Dario Franchitti / 01:04.5032 / 100.460 / 9
2. #9 Scott Dixon / 01:05.1481 / 99.466 / 12
3. #19 Justin Wilson / 01:05.1836 / 99.412 /17
4. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 01:05.2055 / 99.378 / 9
5. #4 Dan Wheldon / 01:05.3390 / 99.175 / 12
6. #13 EJ Viso / 01:05.3966 / 99.088 / 17
7. #26 Marco Andretti / 01:05.6370 / 98.725 / 11
8. #3 Will Power / 01:05.6496 / 98.706 / 17
9. #5 Mario Moraes / 01:05.7412 / 98.568 / 14
10. #02 Graham Rahal / 01:05.8199 / 98.450 / 14
11. #06 Robert Doornbos / 01:06.0882 / 98.051 / 18
12. #14 Vitor Meira / 01:06.2692 / 97.783 / 14
13. #2 Raphael Matos / 01:06.3043 / 97.731 / 26
14. #34 Alex Tagliani / 01:06.3868 / 97.610 / 14
15. #21 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 01:06.4209 / 97.560 / 14
16. #24 Mike Conway / 01:06.5339 / 97.394 / 14
17. #27 Hideki Mutoh / 01:06.7729 / 97.045 / 7
18. #7 Danica Patrick / 01:07.3126 / 96.267 / 16
19. #20 Ed Carpenter / 01:08.5418 / 94.541 / 11
20. #23 Darren Manning / 01:08.6726 / 94.361 / 4
21. #98 Stanton Barrett / 01:10.6443 / 91.727 / 10

[Knowlesy]

Welcome back Dario.

Justin Wilson, great stuff!

Conway strikes first in his personal battle.

[Down F0rce]

Woot. I might actually watch this race after all!

[Speedblood]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

Welcome back Dario.

I'll second that!

I hope in a selfish sort of way that Justin can out do NHL racing this year...

[Tim Northcutt]

Keep in mind that they had rain earlier this morning (but the forecast is for a gorgeous weekend!) and there was no rubber at all on the track because Indy Lights ran in the wet most of their session.

Everyone will pick up at least 2 mph and probably 3 mph by the time qualifyinf comes around tomorrow.

[DanicaFan]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

Keep in mind that they had rain earlier this morning (but the forecast is for a gorgeous weekend!) and there was no rubber at all on the track because Indy Lights ran in the wet most of their session.

Everyone will pick up at least 2 mph and probably 3 mph by the time qualifyinf comes around tomorrow.

True. And there is another practice session today and Im sure the speeds will be up then too.

[Dutton]

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

Ok Dutton, I wil say this, that will be the ONLY way that Mike will finish ahead of Danica in a race is if she has some mechanical problem or is involved in a crash. But, if they both finish a race, he WILL NOT finish ahead of her.

Originally Posted by Raven

Danica for the win in St. Pete!

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

I am picking Danica to win at St. Pete this weekend.

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

Here are the times..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Time / Speed / Best Lap

1. #10 Dario Franchitti / 01:04.5032 / 100.460 / 9

16. #24 Mike Conway / 01:06.5339 / 97.394 / 14
17. #27 Hideki Mutoh / 01:06.7729 / 97.045 / 7
18. #7 Danica Patrick / 01:07.3126 / 96.267 / 16

Don't worry: it's only practice, so the times don't mean anything.

*******

Originally Posted by RichardRenes

top 14 within a second of eachother ( something F1 can only dream of).

This is going to be fun (I hope)

Given this comment in pre-season testing was trying to suggest the IRL was superior in this regard to F1, and that it has seemed to me, in recent years at least, that the IRL has larger fields gaps than F1 on street/road courses, I felt compelled to compare the two series this weekend. Since we have only had the one IRL practice session so far, I will only use F1's first practice times (although the second practice situation is not far off identical).

I wouldn't ordinarily bring it up, but if the IRL is to be praised by someone in the forum for having a field so close in time that F1 can only dream of it (with the tone of the comment seeming to be snide), well, it only seems fair that the evidence is actually looked at.

F1/IRL First Practice Comparison

Formula One; Indycar

Fastest lap: 1:36.260; 1:04.503

Field spread: 2.22s; 6.14s (4.17s if you go to 20th)

The top-10 spread: 0.72s; 1.32s

The top-14 spread: 0.94s; 1.88s

It would seem that the F1 field is much, much more competitive in these terms. The time spreads are roughly half those of the IRL, and this with F1 taking just under 32 seconds longer than the IRL to complete a lap.

*****

Anyway, as to the session as a thing in itself. I didn't see it, so would ask if anything of note happened? The only two things which stand out from the times, to me, are TK not running and Marco seemingly running well. Things seem pretty normal otherwise.

[Keyfabe]

barrett looks dangerously slow

[DanicaFan]

Practice Session 2 is over. Danica was much improved up to 10th place. Way to go girl! Graham Rahal takes P1 in this 2nd session.

Here are the results..

Rank / Car# & Driver / Time / Speed / Best Lap

1. #02 Graham Rahal / 01:03.4078 / 102.196 / 18
2. #19 Justin Wilson / 01:03.5881 / 101.906 / 17
3. #10 Dario Franchitti / 01:03.7007 / 101.726 / 3
4. #13 EJ Viso / 01:03.8156 / 101.543 / 15
5. #11 Tony Kanaan / 01:03.8454 / 101.495 / 17
6. #6 Ryan Briscoe / 01:03.8603 / 101.471 / 22
7. #9 Scott Dixon / 01:04.0071 / 101.239 / 17
8. #3 Will Power / 01:04.0851 / 101.116 / 6
9. #14 Vitor Meira / 01:04.1641 / 100.991 / 4
10. #7 Danica Patrick / 01:04.2777 / 100.813 / 17
11. #23 Darren Manning / 01:04.2820 / 100.806 / 16
12. #24 Mike Conway / 01:04.3041 / 100.771 / 19
13. #34 Alex Tagliani / 01:04.5407 / 100.402 / 20
14. #26 Marco Andretti / 01:04.5955 / 100.317 / 18
15. #27 Hideki Mutoh / 01:04.6573 / 100.221 / 14
16. #06 Robert Doornbos / 01:04.7011 / 100.153 / 14
17. #5 Mario Moraes / 01:04.7751 / 100.038 / 18
18. #2 Raphael Matos / 01:04.7968 /100.005 / 22
19. #4 Dan Wheldon / 01:04.9190 / 99.817 / 6
20. #21 Ryan Hunter-Reay / 01:04.9882 / 99.710 / 18
21. #20 Ed Carpenter / 01:06.0942 / 98.042 / 22
22. #98 Stanton Barrett / 01:10.3202 / 92.150 / 4

[KSR88]

Does anyone have a spotters guide to the IRL for 2009? Thanks

[NAC]

Originally Posted by Dutton

Don't worry: it's only practice, so the times don't mean anything.

Love ya style Dutton

I'll 3rd that motion "Welcome back Dario"

[DanicaFan]

Here are the Qualification Groups for Tomorrow's Qualifying..

Group 1

#2 Raphael Matos
#3 Will Power
#7 Danica Patrick
#10 Dario Franchitti
#11 Tony Kanaan
#14 Vitor Meira
#19 Justin Wilson
#27 Hideki Mutoh
#34 Alex Tagliani
#98 Stanton Barrett
#06 Robert Doornbos

Group 2

#4 Dan Wheldon
#5 Mario Moraes
#6 Ryan Briscoe
#9 Scott Dixon
#13 EJ Viso
#20 Ed Carpenter
#21 Ryan Hunter-Reay
#23 Darren Manning
#24 Mike Conway
#26 Marco Andretti
#02 Graham Rahal

[bil588]

I hope Graham Rahal will win again.

[2112]

Originally Posted by DanicaFan

I am picking Danica to win at St. Pete this weekend.

this is shocking

[the.cosmic.pope]

Dario back in a green car? Very retro. Just needs some Kool sponsorship.

[GTRMagic]

It would be nice to see Mr Wilson perform well, to keep Mr Coyne's very small equipe at the front of the field.

[luke]

Justin is doing an amazing job in Dale Coyne machinery to be that quick in practice, good on him.

Oh and Danica won't win in a million years this weekend.

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by luke

Justin is doing an amazing job in Dale Coyne machinery to be that quick in practice, good on him.

Oh and Danica won't win in a million years this weekend.

Ladies and gentlemen, the wonders of English logic, where luke thinks a weekend lasts a million years.

[luke]

Practice today:

Pos Driver Team Time Gap
1. Will Power Penske 1:02.838
2. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1:02.957 +0.119
3. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1:03.014 +0.177
4. Marco Andretti Andretti-Green 1:03.234 +0.396
5. Robert Doornbos Newman/Haas 1:03.251 +0.414
6. Tony Kanaan Andretti-Green 1:03.281 +0.442
7. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas 1:03.289 +0.452
8. Dan Wheldon Panther 1:03.331 +0.493
9. Justin Wilson Dale Coyne 1:03.368 +0.530
10. Vitor Meira AJ Foyt 1:03.394 +0.556
11. Mike Conway D&R 1:03.403 +0.565
12. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1:03.485 +0.647
13. Raphael Matos Luczo Dragon 1:03.653 +0.815
14. Hideki Mutoh Andretti-Green 1:03.740 +0.902
15. Ernesto Viso HVM 1:03.830 +0.992
16. Ryan Hunter-Reay Vision 1:03.841 +1.003
17. Darren Manning D&R 1:03.865 +1.027
18. Danica Patrick Andretti-Green 1:04.138 +1.300
19. Mario Moraes KV 1:04.530 +1.693
20. Alex Tagliani Conquest 1:04.556 +1.718
21. Ed Carpenter Vision 1:04.911 +2.074
22. Stanton Barrett 3G 1:07.353 +4.518

Danica doing very shocking and poor way down in the time sheets in now her 5th season in the IRL in Andretti-Green machinery she won't ever have my respect until she quits being arrogant and believing its her right to win, its all about her and does more than just her fluke fuel race win.

[Knowlesy]

Well it is not disastrous performance from her, just not good. The problem is the expectations for her are not realistic in some quarters.

If nobody spoke of her, say we pretended she was male, then it would be reasonable and inoffensive.

[Flyin Ryan]

Qualies underway. Dario quickest early.

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

The problem is the expectations for her are not realistic in some quarters.

The English national teams in football, rugby, and cricket say hi.

Seriously, it's a genuine criticism, but not from an Englishman, unless you're willing to accept that almost every single sportsman produced by your country in recent memory has been horrendously overhyped by your media. So what're you complaining about, that Danica is treated by the American media as though she was English?

The problem is that the number of American media intelligent about racing is small, and the larger interest she receives is from the number of American media not intelligent about racing, and most of them are critical about her anyway. Dale Jr. is starting to go that category as well.

[Speedblood]

Dario and Justin looking very strong as they haven't used any of the "reds" (is that it?)

[DanicaFan]

Well, unfortunately Danica didnt make the first Fast 6 in group 1. She was 8th quickest out of 11 in the first group.

The drivers that moved on to the Fast 12 from Group 1 are..

Will Power
Dario Franchitti
Alex Tagliani
Tony Kanaan
Justin Wilson
Raphael Matos

2nd group is now on the track.

[Flyin Ryan]

Conway's car has a fantastic-looking paintjob with a blue-and-yellow combo.

...but he just put it in the fence. Looks like he did what Power did at Surfers Paradise last year. He clipped the corner on his inside and it sent him in the outside wall.

A partial starting lineup. Conway will start 12th because he won't take part in the next session. The reason his quickest lap wasn't taken away was because it was only a local yellow instead of a full-course caution.

12. #24-Conway
13. #06-Doornbos
14. #21-Hunter-Reay
15. #7-Patrick
16. #13-Viso
17. #14-Meira
18. #26-Andretti
19. #27-Mutoh
20. #5-Moraes
21. #98-Barrett
22. #20-Carpenter