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Ed Carpenter Logs 57 Laps Tuesday In Izod IndyCar Series Testing At Barber
Ed Carpenter was happy to be back at the controls of the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka Chevrolet Tuesday when the IZOD IndyCar Series machines hit the picturesque road circuit of Barber Motorsports Park, east of Birmingham.
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Carpenter, winner of the 2012 season-ending 500-mile thriller at Fontana, Calif., last September, grabbed his new helmet and firesuit to begin preparations for next week’s season opener in the streets of St. Petersburg, the first event of the 19-race campaign.
In cool conditions (mid 50s), the 26-car lineup negotiated the 2.3-mile course with Carpenter posting 57 laps during the two testing sessions Tuesday. In the morning runs, the Butler University grad clocked a best time of one minute, eleven seconds and 57 one-hundreds for an average speed of 115.684 miles per hour.
In the afternoon, the sun had baked the track surface to help improve the team’s clockings and Carpenter recorded a best of 1:09.765 and a speed of 118.683 m.p.h.
The top speed of the day was set by Penske driver Will Power at 122.011. Power was the only driver in the 122 bracket.
Testing for the IZOD IndyCar Series continues Wednesday at Barber beginning at 10 a.m. CDT. Then the teams will prepare for next week’s Grand Prix of St. Petersburg set for March 22-24.
The race will start at 12:40 p.m. EDT on Sunday, March 24, and will be seen live on NBC Sports Network.
“I was pleased with how we started out today,” said Carpenter. “We made some good gains at the test at Sonoma last week. So we are ahead of our setup from last year here. We made good adjustments through the lunch hour. But we hit a bit of a wall in the afternoon. What is good about our team now is that we know the direction we are headed. That wasn’t the case last year. We were still learning so much about the team and the car in the first year. Overall, I think we have now found a good start for Wednesday’s testing. Being a one-car team, we are really trying to find things on our own. So the learning process is a little slower for us than the multi-car teams. But I am pleased where we are headed right now.”
PaddockTalk Perspective
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