Castroneves fastest in Glen practice
Helio Castroneves had the fastest lap of the day during practice on Friday for the Camping World Watkins Glen Grand Prix
Driving the No. 3 Team Penske Dallara/Honda, Castroneves recorded a lap of 1:30.1192 at 134.622 mph on the 3.37-mile, 11-turn circuit to lead the combined morning and afternoon sessions.
Castroneves has started from pole the past two years at Watkins Glen International but hasn't been able to win.
Those honors belong to Scott Dixon, who happened to be second fastest of the day with a lap of 1:30.1587 (134.563 mph) in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car.
Recent paving upgrades in Turns 1, 5 and 6 from concrete to asphalt were immediately noticed.
"It's a lot of grip through those turns and that's why the times are much faster than last year," Castroneves said.
"Now it's becoming much more physically compared to how it used to be. Right now we're excited about the speeds from this afternoon, but tomorrow is still another important day."
Buddy Rice had the fastest lap of the morning session in the No. 15 Dreyer & Reinbold Honda/Dallara. It was the third-fastest lap overall.
Pos Driver Speed Time 1. Helio Castroneves 216.633 1:30.1192 2. Scott Dixon 216.538 1:30.1587 + 0.040 3. Tony Kanaan 215.868 1:30.4386 + 0.319 4. Dario Franchitti 215.242 1:30.7016 + 0.582 5. Kosuke Matsuura 214.855 1:30.8648 + 0.746 6. Dan Wheldon 214.667 1:30.9442 + 0.825 7. Marco Andretti 214.190 1:31.1469 + 1.028 8. Buddy Rice 214.120 1:31.1765 + 1.057 9. Vitor Meira 213.972 1:31.2397 + 1.121 10. Sam Hornish Jr. 213.884 1:31.2773 + 1.158 11. Darren Manning 213.151 1:31.5914 + 1.472 12. Danica Patrick 212.668 1:31.7992 + 1.680 13. Tomas Scheckter 211.977 1:32.0983 + 1.979 14. Jeff Simmons 211.467 1:32.3206 + 2.201 15. Scott Sharp 210.814 1:32.6067 + 2.488 16. AJ Foyt IV 208.244 1:33.7493 + 3.630 17. Ed Carpenter 205.956 1:34.7910 + 4.672 18. Sarah Fisher 201.868 1:36.7105 + 6.591
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