INDYCAR: Briscoe Hits 217.5 To Lead Opening Practice At Fontana

IndyCar

INDYCAR: Briscoe Hits 217.5 To Lead Opening Practice At Fontana

Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe powered to the first lap above 217 mph, posting a 217.5 in just 11 laps of running.

Marshall Pruett | Posted September 14, 2012

Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe led the first practice session at Fontana. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

First it was Ed Carpenter rocketing to the top of the speed charts with a 216.9 mph lap around Fontana's 2.0-mile oval. Then it was Team Penske's Ryan Briscoe powering to the first lap above 217 mph, posting a 217.5 in just 11 laps of running before parking it to avoid the 102 degree ambient temperatures.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing's Dario Franchitti took the opposite approach to the 90-minute opening practice session, sitting in his car on pit lane until the final moments. when he did pull out to turn his first exploratory laps, the 4-time series champion promptly produced the third-fastest speed, setting a 216.5 mph lap.

Briscoe's teammate, championship leader Will Power, ran during the first 10 minutes of the session before his crew brought the No. 12 car back to the garage for a gear ratio change. The No. 3 Penske did the same with Helio Castroneves' car, and when they returned, the Aussie ran a 216.4 mph lap to take fourth while the Brazilian took fifth with a 216.3.

Simona de Silvestro lost an engine just hours after her crew installed it. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)

Ryan Hunter-Reay, who sits just 17 points behind Power in the standings, was 16th with a 211.27 mph lap.

The session wasn't without its fair share of drama.

Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing's Josef Newgarden found his Honda engine to be running on less than six cylinders, which sent the team back to the garage. Hunter-Reay cut his right front tire, causing a yellow flag as the Holmatro Safety Team conducted a track inspection, and possibly the cruelest blow was dealt to the HVM Mechanics when Simona de Silvestro had her Lotus engine expire in a plume of smoke just nine laps into her program.

The Swiss driver's team took delivery of her race engine at 9 p.m. Thursday night and stayed until 2:30 a.m. installing it. Lotus sent two fresh engines to Fontana, leaving HVM to plug the second unit a matter of hours after the first one went in.

Dale Coyne Racing's Justin Wilson was the only driver to meet the wall, spinning in turn 2--the site of all the crashes during Wednesday's test.

With qualifying set to take place two hours after practice, the Brit will be forced to miss time trials as repairs are made.

“I was going into Turn 1, and I was on new tires," he said. "I was starting my second lap. I’m not sure why it didn’t stick. It’s disappointing; it set our whole weekend back. We’ll just have to work on trying to get the car ready for tomorrow now.”

Rank, Driver, Diff., Best Lap
1 Ryan Briscoe 0 217.517
2 Ed Carpenter 0.0834 216.971
3 Dario Franchitti 0.1487 216.545
4 Will Power 0.1643 216.443
5 Helio Castroneves 0.1779 216.355
6 Scott Dixon 0.2000 216.211
7 Tony Kanaan 0.2476 215.902
8 Marco Andretti 0.3617 215.166
9 JR Hildebrand 0.4283 214.739
10 Graham Rahal 0.7616 212.625
11 Katherine Legge 0.7922 212.433
12 James Hinchcliffe 0.8218 212.248
13 Justin Wilson 0.8846 211.856
14 Rubens Barrichello 0.8941 211.796
15 Charlie Kimball 0.9640 211.362
16 Ryan Hunter-Reay 0.9782 211.274
17 Takuma Sato 1.0323 210.939
18 Simon Pagenaud 1.1552 210.182
19 EJ Viso 1.1822 210.017
20 17 Sebastian Saavedra 1.2571 209.559
21 Oriol Servia 1.2579 209.554
22 James Jakes 1.3335 209.094
23 Wade Cunningham 1.4833 208.188
24 Josef Newgarden 1.8264 206.143
25 Alex Tagliani 2.1889 204.026
26 Simona de Silvestro 3.6706 195.804

Marshall Pruett is SPEED.com's Auto Racing Editor, and covers the IndyCar Series. Before joining SPEED, Pruett worked in open-wheel racing for 20 years as a mechanic and engineer. He also contributes to RACER, Road & Track and Racecar Engineering. Follow him @MarshallPruett.