INDYCAR: Power Leads Penske 1-2 Tuesday At Spring Training

Will Power and Helio Castroneves take the top two spots during the first day of IndyCar Spring training at Barber Motorsports Park.

Marshall Pruett | Posted March 12, 2013

Team Penske's Will Power streaks past the trees at Barber Motorsports Park on Tuesday, setting the fastest lap. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

Team Penske's Will Power and Helio Castroneves took the top two spots during the first day of IndyCar Spring training at Barber Motorsports Park, while Andretti Autosport's James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top 3 for Chevrolet.

Power, winner of last year's Barber race, led the morning and afternoon sessions, posting a lap of 1:07.862 around the 2.3-mile, 15-turn track.

The Aussie's quick time was well below Helio Castroneves' pole lap of 1:10.476 from 2012, with off-season track resurfacing responsible for the massive increase in pace.

"It's such a unique place, it's more about Barber for when we come back to race here," Power told SPEED.com of the goal for the two-day Spring Training session.

With the fresh track surface and 26 Indy cars putting down rubber from Firestone's soft St. Petersburg specification tires, Power said the G loadings he faced were incredible today.

"It's probably more than I've ever felt," he said. "More than even a Formula One car."

For Castroneves, running within a whisker of Power came through the emerging partnership between the Brazilian and his new engineer, Jonathan Diuguid.

"It's coming together really good, man," he said. "I'm really encouraged about the direction we are working with things, and the team overall is looking really good. I'm pumped."

Like the 3-time Indy 500 winner, Hinchcliffe attributed a lot of his pace Tuesday to working with his former Newman/Haas engineer Craig Hampson.

"The engineers had a long list of magic items to work through, and Craig and I are definitely trying to pick up where we left off," he said. "Working with an engineer that I've worked with in the past is a huge step for us. We get to skip the puppy love/first date phase."

Hinch's 1:07.986-second tour was the last of the 1:07s. Mike Conway, making his IndyCar return after stepping out of the car prior to the 2-12 season finale at Fontana, spent the day in the No. 16 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing entry and got down to business quickly, posting the fourth-fastest lap of the day.

“Today was about getting comfortable in a car, working with the guys and seeing how they work and getting myself dialed in for Long Beach," said the Brit, who will join the team next month on the circuit where he won his first IndyCar race in 2011. James Jakes, the full-time driver of the No. 16, will step into the car on Wednesday.

Conway's 1:08.158 was slightly ahead of E.J. Viso, who completed the theme of driver/engineer combos ruling the day. The Andretti Autosport driver clocked a 1:08.219 in his second outing after being reunited with Michael Cannon.

"Things were good today," he said. "Just working up to things. I'm obviously very encouraged about our pace."

Of the remaining runners, Simona de Silvestro was an impressive sixth in her KV Racing entry, Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon was the first Honda representative in eighth, Team Penske's AJ Allmendinger was 16th after recording two spins--one that sent the No. 2 car flying over and down the steep gravel trap at the tricky Turn 7/7a complex. Corner workers estimated the car was more than 10 feet in the air at one point while sailing downhill.

The team confirmed the car emerged unscathed, as did the driver.

Tristan Vautier, who has led numerous off-season tests, was down in 18th, saying "I didn't make the most of new tires, but it's part of learning."

Ana Beatriz, who hasn't driven an Indy car on a road or street course since the Brazil round in April of 2012, was slowest in the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing entry.

PHOTOS: Click Here or on the image below to view INDYCAR: Spring Training 2013

MISC

• A number of new liveries were on display today. The Barracuda Racing is, in my estimation, the best on the grid. Team co-owner Bryan Herta told SPEED.com they went through 30 versions of the scheme before picking the final that adorns the No. 98.

• Quicken Loans announced they've returned to Team Penske, and "will be featured on the cockpit of both the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet IndyCar driven by Helio Castroneves and the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet machine driven by Will Power."

• A mandatory dinner meeting for IndyCar drivers was held Tuesday night to allow Hulman & Co. CEO Mark Miles, interim IndyCar CEO Jeff Belskus and interim IndyCar CFO Robbie Greene a chance to meet with drivers and team owners to express their vision for the series.

• The start of Wednesday's practice has been pushed back to 10 a.m. due to the exceptional cold in Birmingham, Alabama. With no humidity and temperatures in the mid-70s back home in the Bay Area, I'm a strong advocate for Spring Training moving to Sonoma Raceway next year...if not in perpetuity.

• I've spoken with one member of the new INDYCAR Competition Committee who, despite the predictable panning of 'yet another committee being formed,' believes it will make a positive impact on the series going forward.

• Great to see Page Mader from Firestone here. The longtime tire engineer--I first worked with him in Indy Lights in the mid-1990s--is hanging up his tire probe at the end of the month.

• A few drivers will be blasting down to Sebring after Spring Training. Defending IndyCar champ Ryan Hunter-Reay and Rookie of the Year Simon Pagenaud will share the same Honda-powered HPD ARX-03b for Level 5 Motorsports, along with former Team Penske driver Ryan Briscoe and Marino Franchitti, brother of 3-time Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti. The elder Franchitti will be making the trip to Sebring to support his little brother, who recently became a father for the first time with his wife Holly, and could see his bus filled with those looking for free libations.

HINCH VIDEO BOMBS WILL POWER...

VIDEO LINK FOR INT'L VIEWERS: Here

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, covering IndyCar and sports cars. Now in his 27th year in the sport, Pruett was an open-wheel mechanic, engineer and manager before joining SPEED. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.