Briscoe tops IndyCar testing at Barber

Australian Ryan Briscoe has led a Penske domination of the opening day of the official IZOD IndyCar Series pre-season test at Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.

Briscoe led a Penske 1-2-4 at the road course venue, with Helio Castroneves second and fellow Aussie Will Power fourth in his Verizon-backed entry.

The only driver to break the Penske domination was new Dreyer & Reinbold Racing recruit Justin Wilson, who was third fastest in his Z-Line designs machine.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing made a steady start to the season, with Scott Dixon fifth fastest and 2009 champ Dario Franchitti down in ninth place.

Fresh from her recent NASCAR Nationwide Series races, Danica Patrick was down in 18th position of the 20 cars present.

The test comes after a flurry of last-minute deals and announcements in the IndyCar Series paddock.

Hideki Mutoh has signed on as the lone driver at Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing, with Graham Rahal set to miss the season opener following McDonalds decision not to renew its sponsorship of the team.

Conquest Racing returns to the fold with Brazilian Mario Romancini as its driver, while EJ Viso joins Takuma Sato at KV Racing Technology, with young Brit James Rossiter a possibility for a third KV entry.

Gil de Ferren has merged his team with Luzco Dragon Racing to create de Ferren Luzco Dragon Racing, fielding Raphael Matos and second car part-time for Davey Hamilton

FAZZT team of Alex Tagliani and Dale Coyne Racing have both opted to sit out pre-season testing. Full times from Day One below.

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Time	Laps
1.	#6	Briscoe, Ryan	Team Penske	1:10.5052	66
2.	#3	Castroneves, Helio	Team Penske	1:10.7146	61
3.	#22	Wilson, Justin	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1:10.7397	35
4.	#12	Power, Will	Team Penske	1:10.7637	49
5.	#9	Dixon, Scott	Target Chip Ganasi Racing	1:10.8927	52
6.	#8	Viso, EJ	KV Racing Technology	1:10.9186	60
7.	#5	Sato, Takuma (R)	KV Racing Technology	1:11.1138	70
8.	#11	Kanaan, Tony	Andretti Autosport	1:11.1433	46
9.	#10	Franchitti, Dario	Target Chip Ganasi Racing	1:11.1825	36
10.	#06	Mutoh, Hideki	Newman-Haas-Lanigan Racing	1:11.2212	67
11.	#26	Andretti, Marco	Andretti Autosport	1:11.3557	51
12.	#34	Romancini, Mario (R)	Conquest Racing	1:11.4567	70
13.	#32	Rossiter, James (R)	KV Racing Technology	1:11.7759	40
14.	#14	Meira, Vitor	AJ Foty Enterprises	1:11.9171	48
15.	#2	Matos, Raphael	de Ferren Luzco Dragon Racing	1:11.9924	41
16.	#37	Hunter-Reay, Ryan	Andretti Autosport	1:12.1369	38
17.	#24	Conway, Mike	Dreyer & REinbold Racing	1:12.1543	48
18.	#7	Patrick, Danica	Andretti Autosport	1:12.5369	36
19.	#78	de Silvestro, Simona (R)	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	1:12.8124	48
20.	#67	Fisher, Sarah	Sarah Fisher Racing	1:16.0138	63