CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
TOYOTA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH
STREETS OF LONG BEACH (CALIFORNIA)
DAY ONE – PRACTICE RECAP
FRIDAY, APRIL 15, 2016
LONG BEACH, Calif – At the conclusion of the second round of practice for Sunday’s running of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, Team Chevy’s Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, topped the combined speed charts with a fast lap of one minute, 07.5992 seconds/104.806 mph.
The 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series (VICS) champion led a Chevrolet contingent of six drivers in the top-eight of final time and speed order in preparation for round three of the 16-race season.
Team Penske drivers Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 PPG Automotive Refinish Chevrolet, and Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 2 Verizon Chevrolet, were fourth and fifth respectively. Their teammate Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California Chevrolet, finished practice in sixth position.
Josef Newgarden, No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, was seventh fastest with defending series champion Scott Dixon, No., 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, in eighth place.
There will be an additional practice session Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. prior to the Firestone Fast Six qualifying set to start at 2:00 p.m. PDT.
Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach: 1:30 p.m., Sunday, April 18 – 80 laps/157.44 miles on 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street course. TV/Radio/Other: 1 p.m., Sunday, April 17 – NBCSN, INDYCAR Radio Network, Sirius 212/XM 209, indycar.com, indycarradio.com, and the INDYCAR mobile app.
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: Press Conference with Will Power
THE MODERATOR: We’ll get started with today’s post practice media availability. We’re joined by Will Power, who was our fastest driver of the day.
Will, it seems like it’s pretty old hat for you to come out of a weekend starting very strong at the top of the charts. How is the weekend going for you so far?
WILL POWER: It’s obviously been good. You don’t want to know what I did this morning. But anyway…Got a good setup. This morning, learned some stuff off one, we’re progressing well. So this is a track where I’ve struggled the last couple years in qualifying, kind of starting way back there. I really want to start up the front and give myself a better chance at winning the race.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll continue with questions.
Q. Will, in one race you were able to work your way up to 12th in points. Is it conceivable that by the time you leave Indianapolis you could be right back toward leading the points?
WILL POWER: If it’s mathematically possible, yes. Obviously if everything goes well, yeah, I can be right there.
Q. Will, when you started your racing career, did you ever think that so much time was going to be spent talking about the contents of what’s in or out of your stomach?
WILL POWER: Yeah, no (laughter).
Q. Will, domed skids. A Honda driver said this morning that maybe the Chevy drivers weren’t so happy with those either, said that you told him your car was terrible to drive. Was it difficult? What is your true opinion?
WILL POWER: I just said the day was very windy, so with them on or off, it was difficult.
I think the racing will be fine, I really do, because ever since we blocked off the rear bumpers, it’s created a massive draft. No one will get away. I think it will be the same as last year, it really will.
Q. Are either of you concerned that all the domed skid talk is overshadowing not the next couple races but the month of May itself?
WILL POWER: Got to have something to talk about, man.Yeah, we’ll see how it plays out.
Q. Could you tell us a little bit about the flaps and how they may affect or not affect the car at Indy that they’ve talked about?
WILL POWER: The sidewalls? The rear flaps? I’m interested to see who is going to try it out first. I really, really don’t want to be that guy. Yeah, I mean, it’s going to make a big difference. I’m sure it’s going to make a big difference. It’s such a big aerodynamic device when it actually flips up. If that doesn’t stop them flying, I don’t think you could.
Q. Any consequence in driving the car normally?
WILL POWER: Nothing.
Q. What’s the point of a domed skid if the rear flaps are already there?
WILL POWER: Because the domed skid stops it flying when it’s sideways. The flaps are for backwards.
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 PPG AUTOMOTIVE REFINISH TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “The PPG Automotive Refinish team did a great job in making a great recovery for second practice. We had a couple of issues earlier this morning. The real issue was the first set of tires, but we recovered to put ourselves in the top four. So, we can relax a little bit, knowing we’re up there and it’s a real testament to our crew to get that car ready so quickly. The track is tricky out there. The cars are so fast and we break so deep, so you really have to try hard because there’s a lot going on. However, we did a great job to bounce back so quickly before qualifying tomorrow.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “Our first practice was good in the Verizon Chevy. The second practice we made a couple of mistakes. I think we actually learned a lot more during the second practice because we found some things we shouldn’t have done. With what we learned I think we’ll be better for the race. For qualifying set up we may have gone back a little bit but we will continue to work on it in the practice tomorrow.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 AUTO CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET: “The Auto Club of Southern California Chevy was running good today. We were able to make some changes from the first practice to the second and it seemed to improve the car. We need to continue working together with the entire team for tomorrow – it really starts to count then. Hopefully we can come back strong like last year, be in the top six and put it on the pole.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 21 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET: “It was a good day, a clean day for us which is always good. No major drama! We worked through a lot of good stuff, we were able to get a good read on what we need to do for tomorrow. We didn’t quite put it all together like we needed to do at the end of the day on the last set of tires, but we know where we’re at. The Fuzzy’s car looks good and we’re excited to qualify tomorrow.”
SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET: “We didn’t really get to do much running in the first session this morning with all the downtime from the red flags and traffic. It just seemed like you could never really get a clear lap with all the cars out there. We missed a little bit on the setup and tried some new things that we didn’t do last year. P8 is not where we want to be of course with Team Target but we still have another session tomorrow morning to work on it before qualifying. Qualifying is of course so crucial on street circuits so hopefully we make the right changes and get a good starting spot tomorrow for the race.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 TRESIBA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET: In practice two we worked on some balance stuff trying to find a better combination for the car. I feel pretty good about the No. 83 Tresiba® Chevrolet – I think we’re in a good window. We need a little bit of lap time, but it’s just been so competitive today. I think I ended the second session 12th, but a tenth would’ve put me in seventh. We’re looking for a little more than that and we have a pretty good idea on how to make that happen heading into tomorrow morning. I’m confident that we’ll be strong coming out of tomorrow’s morning practice and heading into qualifying tomorrow afternoon.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 CALIFORNIA BAPTIST UNIVERSITY KVSH RACING CHEVROLET: “Not a great day for the California Baptist University – KVSH Racing team. We struggled a little, then at the end I made a small mistake. However the field is very close. It doesn’t take much to move up the grid. Just a couple small adjustments, little steps. We will sit down, take a look at all the data and see what we can come up with for tomorrow.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET: Tony Kanaan, No. 10 NTT DATA Chevrolet: “It felt really good to be back on-track today in Long Beach. We tried a few things in both practices in terms of our qualifying setup that didn’t work as well as we’d hoped. We aren’t quite there yet with a setup that works for everyone, but I think we’re close. We had a strong qualifying in Phoenix and I’m confident that we’ll be able to work through the data and put together a strong qualifying effort for the No. 10 NTT DATA Chevrolet tomorrow.”
MAX CHILTON, NO. 8 GALLAGHER CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET: “It was a bit of a struggle for us today with the Gallagher team. I think overall we could have done a bit better but we really need to sit down tonight and get a plan together for tomorrow. You really have to qualify well at a place like this because passing is at such a premium. I’m still learning the track layout as well. We’ll spend time tonight assessing where we are overall and have a plan to come back stronger in final practice tomorrow morning.”