The rain held off, for the most part Thursday, and 35 drivers turned in a total of 2,628 laps. The usual suspects led the lap speeds for the day with Ryan Briscoe (223.708 mph) at the top. Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Tony Kanaan and Tomas Scheckter all made the top-five.
Led by Will Power several non-qualified drivers pushed speeds up to the mid-222’s on a day where the weather, while dry, was not perfect. Wind and air temperatures affected lap speeds, but at this point the drivers will take any time on the track they can get.
“The weather affects the car so much, and I realized how hard it is to have a consistent car on the track,” Hideki Mutoh said. “Luckily, we were able to try most of the setups we wanted to try today. so, we will look at the data tonight and hopefully we will have another productive day tomorrow.”
Friday’s weather forecast looks favorable with clouds parting as the day goes on. Clouds, wind and 40 percent chance of scattered storms are predicted to build back in Saturday afternoon. Sunday’s forecast calls for a 30 percent chance of showers.
