IRLblog.com

After utilizing the media center at Homestead Miami Speedway for 3 days.  I finally took time to notice what a great well built facility it is.  I overhead members of HMS stating that the facility cost roughly $8 million to build.  It is definitely money well spent since everyone from the media, to the drivers, and PR reps seemed to be pretty comfortable.  The final testing sessions proved to be productive ones for Ryan Briscoe and Team Penske.  They were the first and only team to break the 212 mph mark.  At the backend of the field is Stanton Barrett once again.  You have to keep in mind that Team 3G with Stanton in the cockpit had only turned 150 laps in an IndyCar on an oval prior to tonights testing. Team 3G managed to raise there best lap from 201 mph on Monday night to 206 mph tonight.  This is a pretty drastic improvement despite the fact that they remained the slowest overall.  After spoke with team owner Steve Sudler and he was pleased with improvement and is confident that Team 3G will continue to pick up the pace into the 2009 season.  I managed to speak with Ryan Hunter-Reay and he is currently trying to work on a putting something together with HVM.  He spent yesterday evening watching the test session from HVM’s pit box.  Hopefully the two can bring some sort of sponsorship deal together.

And we are green.  The final oval test session of the 2009 IndyCar pre-season is underway.   21 cars are on track on this pleasant south Florida evening.  The afternoon was a busy one with the teams scrambling to set the cars up for Versus on track video shoot.  With the video shoot wrapping up around 3 p.m., the teams only had one hour to get the cars ready for the start of the session.  All the teams want to turn as many laps as possible to improve there oval setups.  Usually the pre-season test at Homestead Miami Speedway is just a few weeks before the season opener at HMS.  This year they will have to wait 6 months before returning to the Speedway for the season finale under the lights.  You can follow all of the timing and scoring by clicking the link

IndyCar Series live timing and scoring

Good morning from Homestead Miami Speedway.  Everyone was able to sleep in this morning since the cars do not need to be on track until 2:30 for another Versus network promotional shoot.  It’s another sunny and warm day at the track and is expected to stay that way for the rest of the afternoon and into the evening.  Drivers are scurrying around attending photo shoots for various media outlets while teams are fast at work in the garages prepping the cars for the on track video shoot for Versus.  The video shoot is scheduled to wrap up around 3 giving the teams 1 hour to get everything ready before the start of the test session at 4 p.m.  Dan Wheldon arrived today after doing some promos for the National Guard yesterday.  This should bring our car count to 22 for this evenings open test session.  Keep checking back during the course of the day for updates from Homestead Miami Speedway.<-->

The IndyCar Series just took to the track for what is the first evening of a two evening test down here at Homestead Miami Speedway.  Teams were anxious to get on track after setting the cars up over the past two days and the drivers were sure to hurry back to the garage after the drivers meeting.   Scott Dixon for the first two hours of testing has been the fastest turning in a lap at 211.024 mph.  Ryan Briscoe has been jumping between the #6 and Will Power’s #3.  The majority of the drivers are in the 207-208 mile range.  With this just being the first hour of 12 hours of testing over the next two days, I expect the speeds to pick up and the new teams and drivers to start adjusting and settling in a groove.  One thing I have noticed is that we have an abundant amount of red cars this year.  Perhaps the other teams think Target Chip Ganassi and Penske (technically orange) luck and skill with rub off.  Milka Duno is testing tonight but it has been reported that her deal with Newman Haas Lanigan Racing has not been finalized yet.  The same goes for Justin Wilson at Dale Coyne Racing.  You can follow the live timing and scoring and watch a live video feed from Homestead Miami Speedway by clicking on the links below.

IndyCar live timing and scoring

Live Homestead Miami Speedway video stream

photo: Pippa Mann getting ready to take to the track

Yes…  You read the title correctly.  IRLblog is on site covering the IndyCar and Firestone Indy Lights testing at Homestead Miami Speedway.  Today the rookies of the Firestone Indy Lights are on the track.  Teams did not waste any time this morning getting the ball rolling.  With more rookies than veterans scheduled to test over the course of today and tomorrow, I don’t see why they would have.  Drivers such as Brandon Wagner of Davey Hamilton Racing,  Martin Plowman and Pippa Mann of Panther Racing, Mario Romancini of RLR / Anderson Racing, and Junior Strous of ASR-Nelan Motorsports have been turning laps since 9 a.m.  Team PBIR, although a new team has put no stranger to American open wheel racing Jay Howard behind the wheel.  PBIR will not test today but will be on track tomorrow along with the rest of the Firestone Indy Lights teams.

Pippa Mann is the fastest rookie on the track thus far with a best speed of 187.582 mph around the 1.5 mile oval with the majority of the field just 1 mph slower.  You can watch live Firestone Indy Lights Scoring by following the link below.

Firestone Indy Lights live timing and scoring