Motorsports

Drivers must hang on tight

Grip level isn't ideal on Day 1 of practice for IndyCar's best.

By BRANT JAMES
Published March 31, 2007

ST. PETERSBURG - Tony Kanaan knows the way to the podium at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. He was second in the race's inaugural running in 2005 and third last year.

He and his peers learned Friday that the step to the top will be a lot trickier, just like the race course.

"I think the first outing was the big wake-up call for everybody," he said.

The Indy Racing League is using a 3.5-liter engine this year, up from three liters. After the first practice session Friday morning, drivers had demonstrated greater throttle response and more power in lower gears - a "wider power band," league president Brian Barnhart said - so speeds on the 1.8-mile course promised to be the quickest since the series came to town. Drivers will gladly take the power.

But without traction control, which prevents wheel overspin and enhances grip (it was banned before last season), plus a variable racing surface, drivers will find the course to be among the trickiest on the league's 17-race schedule, Team Penske president Tim Cindric said.

"Lots of variables," concurred driver Scott Sharp. "Old pavement, new pavement, concrete parts, bumps, hot, sticky. It's difficult to get a car happy here."

Sarah Fisher, Jeff Simmons and A.J. Foyt IV spun off the course in the first practice sessions and there were scores of bobbles as rear wheel became a major issue.

Kanaan and counterparts like defending race winner Helio Castroneves, who also raced in the street-course-dominated Champ Car series, would figure to have a major advantage. Most drivers say they like the added challenge St. Petersburg offers.

"It's going to be experience that makes a difference, but also who has a good car," Kanaan said before posting the second-fastest lap of the day. "I think experience is always going to benefit people, but that doesn't have to necessarily mean that will make you win the race."

Dan Wheldon, who won the first IRL Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, said that while power is a plus, it's no good without the right equipment or tactics.

"You've got to get the car working well as you get through the power," he said. "I think it's going to make for an entertaining race."

Wheldon's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, led the morning session (1:02.3478) and was within .07 seconds off the track qualifying record, set last year by Dario Franchitti. That was impressive considering street courses yield greater speeds later in the week when more rubber had been laid down, leading to greater grip. Four drivers bettered Franchitti's mark by the end of the day, led by Castroneves at 105.192 mph.

Sharp said his afternoon mishap was not related to torque or spinning tires, but difficulty steering. Late in the session, trying to nip the three-inch high rumble strips and find a new, straighter race line, he went briefly airborne and slid through Turns 13 and 14.

Another potentially critical variable on Sunday will be pit stops. The length of the average stop shrunk by as much as two seconds - down to just more than eight for four tires and a full fuel cell - at last weekend's opener in Homestead. The reason: ethanol fuel, which improves mileage by 30 percent on ovals and 25 percent on street and road courses. The IRL to shrink fuel cells from 30 to 22 gallons to synchronize the need to stop for fuel and tires. Cindric, who calls the race for Castroneves, expects the gamble of short-pitting for fuel to vanish because teams can fill up with any four-tire stop.

Kanaan had yet to talk race strategy on Friday.

"That will be up to (his Andretti Green Racing engineers) to figure out," he said. "All I can do is drive as fast as I can, but for sure, track position at a place like this is always very important."

Getting it and getting it fast is likely to be just as important on Sunday. And then, drivers must hold on.

[Last modified March 31, 2007, 07:30:34]