Castroneves up to speed as Penskes top Barber test
Tuesday, 20 March 2018

By Robin Miller / Images by IMS Photo


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Rain and red flags limited running in Tuesday's Verizon IndyCar Series open test at Barber Motorsports Park, but not before Team Penske put its stamp on the Alabama road course.

Defending series champion Josef Newgarden led the way with a lap of 1m07.979s in his Chevrolet and the was only driver to crack 1:08 as 24 cars only made 510 laps due to the conditions, which closed the track early.
Teammates Will Power and Helio Castroneves were close behind at 1m08.153s and 1m08.315s, respectively, as the three-time Indy 500 winner turned 41 laps – the most of anyone.
Castroneves, now a full-time sports car driver with Juan Pablo Montoya for The Captain, will be running both races in May for Team Penske.
Sebastian Bourdais, who captured the season opener at St. Pete, was the fourth fastest at 1m08.382s in Dale Coyne's Honda, followed by rookie teammate Zachary Claman De Melo at 1m08.561s.
Several Honda teams will be testing the IMS road course on Friday and then all teams are set to run the oval from March 27-29, with an open test on March 27, rookie orientation and refresher tests set for March 28 and a Chevrolet-Honda manufacturer test on the 29th.