Cut! That’s a wrap.
Today was another interesting day at Homestead Miami Speedway. Panther Racing’s rookie driver Pippa Mann remained the fastest Firestone Indy Lights driver in today’s final practice session with her teammate Martin Plowman who is also a rookie finishing in P4. Today the media was present for the Versus network photoshoots as well as private sessions with various IndyCar Series drivers. Milka Duno drove for Newman Haas Lanigan Racing but it has been reported by IndyCar.com that her deal has not yet been finalized for the season. Her car is sporting the Citgo logo with a new paint scheme. 
Don’t get too excited, its not totally different. Justin Wilson also tested with Dale Coyne Racing and does not yet have a finalized deal with them. As I was strolling through the garage area I spotted Ryan Hunter-Reay talking to various teams and crew members. Sarah Fisher made an appearance as well strolling around and speaking with old crew members and owners. Robert Doornbos surpised everyone with his push to P4 with a speed of 209.584 mph. The biggest issue of the evening seemed to be all the yellows that were drawn out due to tires suffering punctures on the track. The test session ended with Scott Dixon at the top of the charts with a speed of 211.372. He was then followed by Ryan Briscoe, Dario Franchitti, Mario Moraes, and Will Power. The night wrapped up with video shoot of the Versus livery car driving around the 1.5 mile oval with other IndyCar Series cars for the new Versus network promotions. IndyCar Series testing resumes tomorrow at 4 p.m. and you can catch all the timing and scoring by checking out IndyCar.com
February 26th, 2009 at 23:01
That Milka scheme looks terrible. Im kind of surprised Justin Wilson wasn’t as fast. With the new engineer and driver I would imagine their time would have been alot better, but its only testing and maybe they can run data and get more out of the car. I would love to see the backmarkers get more competitive, im all for parity