Get tickets, information for 100th Running of Indianapolis 500
Before breaking for lunch at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, both Helio Castroneves and Marco Andretti had turned almost 70 percent of the 200 laps for the Indianapolis 500.
Neither seemed to mind the workout on the 2.5-mile oval.
“Every time you have an opportunity to be here, especially with helping Firestone develop even better tires, it’s important,”said Castroneves, the three-time Indy 500 winner, after exiting the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet.
“The beauty of working with Firestone is they try all the details, and that’s why we’re here. It’s about grip – left side and right side – and what line you can take, and they really want your feedback after every run.”
Firestone annually tests at IMS, and the advent of the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 29, 2016, added some weight to the morning and afternoon sessions. Andretti and Castroneves combined for 449 laps for the day.
“It’s very important to Firestone. We were here in 1911 (for the first Indy 500) and we’re going to be here for the 100th running, so it’s a great milestone for Firestone,” said Dale Harrigle, chief engineer for Bridgestone Americas Motorsports and manager of race tire development.
The tire specification selected for the 100th race will be unique to the racetrack. The introduction of aerodynamic bodywork components to the race cars this year and expected increase in 2016 lap speeds make testing essential.
“We’re looking at a couple of right-side compounds and different left-side compounds and a couple different constructions all in the name of continuous innovation, trying to make the tire a little bit better for the drivers for next year’s Indy 500,” Harrigle added.
“We’re getting the drivers’ feedback, because no matter what the data says, it’s not a better tire if the driver doesn’t think it’s better. The cars carry a pretty sophisticated data acquisition system so we’re getting all that data as well, along with tire temps, lap times and different variables. So we’ll take all that back to Akron (Ohio) for engineers and a team of compounders to study it and we’ll come up with the best tire we can for next year.”
Additionally, four drivers participated in concurrent team testing at IMS: the Chevrolet-powered cars of Tony Kanaan (No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing), Ed Carpenter (No. 20 CFH Racing) and Simon Pagenaud (No. 22 Team Penske), along with the Honda-powered car of Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 28 Andretti Autosport).
“We don’t get much testing during the season, so it’s great to be here to get ready for next year already,” Pagenaud said. “We’re doing a lot of aero testing. With the new aero kit, we didn’t really get a chance to extract the best out of it yet. There’s so much potential; we’re trying to understand all the bits and pieces. There are a lot of combinations that we’re trying.”
Some, Pagenaud noted, could be implemented for the upcoming ABC Supply 500 on the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway tri-oval. The penultimate race of the Verizon IndyCar Series season is Aug. 23.