Power quickest in Barber Park practice

Will Power has topped the opening day of practice at Barber Motorsports Park ahead of this weekend’s IZOD IndyCar Series race at the road course this weekend.

The Australian, driving the #12 Verizon Team Penske car, had a best lap of 1m12.7502s in preparation for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by Legacy.

Kiwi Scott Dixon was second quickest (1m13.0272s) in the #10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car, ahead of Power’s Australian Penske team-mate Ryan Briscoe. The top 12 cars were separated by a second, and six different teams were represented in the top 10.

Despite being the fastest of the bunch, Power was not pleased with the session.

“It wasn’t a very good session for the Verizon Team Penske car,” he said.

“We had a few problems. We need to have a good think tonight about what we need to do. I wasn’t really happy at the end. I went out on new tyres this afternoon when everyone else was on old tyres and I was able to get on it fairly quickly. This morning we had the same pace as this afternoon. I think the track got a bit slower and we need to find the pace.”

Briscoe, third fastest, seemed more optimistic.

“I think we’ve unloaded a good car here at Barber this weekend,” Briscoe said.

“Team Penske did some good work and preparation from our pre-season test here. We didn’t do a lot of running today, but we know the Penske Truck Rental car is good, now we’ll just work on making it better for tomorrow.”

A 20-minute practice session early April 9 precedes three rounds of qualifications that will determine the PEAK Performance Pole Award winner and set the grid for the 26-car field.