Saavedra Getting Up to Speed |
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Topics: Sebastian Saavedra, Indianapolis 500
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Andrew Herta
Bryan Herta Autosport
May 18, 2010
Weather: At the start of practice at 1:05 pm, overcast and 57° F with winds out of the northwest at 4 mph. At 5:00 pm, overcast and 56° F with northwest winds at 8 mph.
Practice Summary: Saavedra took to the track at 1:30 pm, completing 28 laps in total with a top speed of 219.727 mph in his first outing with the #29 William Rast entry. He returned for his second and final run of the day at 5:10 pm, completing an additional 14 laps with a top speed of 220.947 mph.
Number of Laps: 42
Fastest Speeds of the Day:
1. Scott Dixon 226.549 mph
2. Mario Moraes 225.913 mph
3. Marco Andretti 225.751 mph
Sebastian Saavedra, #29 William Rast Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “It was a great day for us. We came out today not having any specific speed to reach in our minds. As we are a developing team, we wanted to test little things and that is what we used this day for. We took it slow without any pressure and went through our list. At the end, we wanted to find some speed and we found it. I had my first moment in the car in Turn 1 with new tires on the last outing in Happy Hour. It helped me to understand a loose Indy car around Indianapolis. I don’t see it as a negative. I see it as a learning process.”
Bryan Herta, Team Co-Owner: “We had a little bit of the real Indianapolis today. We struggled a bit mid-afternoon but made some improvements towards the end of the day and feel like we are making good progress. I am really happy right now with where we are at and the job everyone is doing. Hopefully, we will be looking forward to some better weather towards the end of this week and some good running the next couple of days.”
Roberto Guerrero [Mentoring Saavedra]: “We had another good day. Chris [Finch], our engineer, went through his list of things he wanted to try. We took a little downforce off at the end and the speed came. There is more to take out and it is good to know that we have a very good basic car. I think we are in pretty good shape.”