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Power Leads The Way As IndyCar Practice Starts At Long Beach

Will Power speeds through turn 10 during practice for the IndyCar Series Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. [Joe Jennings Photo]

Will Power speeds through turn 10 during practice for the IndyCar Series Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.  [Joe Jennings Photo]

 

Long Beach, Calif. – As practice started for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Will Power led the way with a speed of 104.885 miles per hour around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street course. He was steering the Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Said Power, “Conditions were pretty good. We spent a lot of time laying down rubber and with the new aero kits, the cars are just faster. It is always super-tight around here and when it gets to qualifying, the top-six are only separated by about a tenth and a half, so I think it will be close tomorrow (Saturday).”

Power’s time was faster than last year’s pole speed and Power and others expect Justin Wilson’s 2008 track record of 105.898 mph to be toppled during pole qualifications.

Simon Pagenaud was second quick at 104.827 mph and fellow teammate Helio Castroneves was next in line at 104.321 mph.

Scott Dixon notched fourth fastest and the fourth member of the Penske powerhouse, Juan Pablo Montoya, had the fifth fastest time.

Sixth through 10th on opening day was Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal in the fastest Honda-powered car, Sebastien Bourdais, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti.

Sunday’s TGPLB will mark the 32ndappearance of Indy cars on the streets of Long Beach and overall, including Formula 1 and Formula 5000, the race has been run 41 times. Six former winners will be in the field, including Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves, Sebastien Bourdais, Will Power, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Takuma Sato.

In a driver change for Dale Coyne Racing, Rocky Moran Jr. took over for Carlos Huertas in the No. 19 car. Moran, 35, was making his IndyCar debut and became the first American to race for the Coyne team since Geoff Boss did so in 2003. But Moran’s run came up short in round 2 of practice when he made contact with Carlos Munoz in turn 1 with both cars spinning around. Damage was said to be minor.

Moran ended up 22nd on the speed charts.

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