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Alonso Ready For Indy 500 Test

Fernando Alonso during Carb Day practice at Indianapolis. [John Wiedemann Photo]

Fernando Alonso during Carb Day practice at Indianapolis. [John Wiedemann Photo]

by Allan Brewer

The Carb Day one-hour practice was over when Fernando Alonso ascended the four flights of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway media center to chat with the press on Friday.

The two-time Formula 1 champion’s preparations for the 101st Indianapolis 500 were complete. All the practice time was exhausted. All the laps alone on the 2.5 mile oval were over. The empty grandstands would be chock-full of race fans the next time Alonso fired his car.

Reflecting on his whirl-wind journey from F1 to IndyCar in less than two weeks’ time, the Spaniard said, “It was great. Today was very smooth and the car felt the best so far. I’m extremely happy with it.

Although the session was shortened by approximately ten minutes due to yellow flag intervals, Fernando acknowledged that not all has been rosy in his tutelage. Among them were a dismaying number of slow-downs to collect debris and sort other mishaps during the Carb Day practice. “Lots of action today,” he said. “In that one hour lots of things happened. It was like a full day compressed into 60 minutes.”

Alonso also revealed that his understanding of the IndyCar chassis has improved to the point he can discern differences in set-up when they are made to the car. “I’ve been experimenting with different set-ups—some from suggestions from the engineers, others from different years past that the team has been here. I’ve also spent more time in the simulator anticipating different changes to the car.”

“Today,” he continued, “we were able to test different things on the car. We put all the ticks in all the boxes today.”

There has been more than the usual number of engine failures at Indianapolis this year. James Hinchcliffe was the latest victim when his Honda failed during the Carb Day practice (bringing out one of the yellow flags Alonso referred to).

Is this a concern to him?

“In practice it’s okay. These things happen,” he said. “We can learn from the engine failure and improve it for the race. I have no concerns and am not even thinking about it.”

There can be no more “shake-down” runs before Sunday as the cars are impounded to their garages prior to a brief technical inspection on race day.

Next is the real deal Indy 500 and Alonso, a rookie to the big race, must overcome his last major obstacle: the pomp and circumstance that comes with the Indianapolis 500 on race day. And when that is done, it’s just another day at the office for Fernando.

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