Saavedra Makes Gains in Practice

Topics:  Sebastian Saavedra, Indianapolis 500

Andrew Herta
Bryan Herta Autosport
May 20, 2010

Weather: At the start of practice at 12:00 pm, 57° F with northeast winds at 6 mph under overcast skies. At 5:00 pm, 58° F with northeast winds at 6 mph.

Practice Summary: Saavedra turned a total of 60 laps today with a best lap of 223.423 mph.

Fastest Speeds of the Day:
1. Scott Dixon 226.971 mph
2. Ryan Briscoe 226.633 mph
3. Alex Tagliani 226.002 mph

Sebastian Saavedra, #29 William Rast Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “Today was the best day so far because of the amount of speed we picked up. We tested a lot of things yesterday, and the plan for today was to start looking for some speed right away to try to move up the speed chart. That was our goal and we did it. From there, we were trying different things to keep improving our time. I felt very comfortable with the car, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Bryan Herta, Team Co-Owner: “We find a little more speed every day but I wish we had two weeks. I miss the old two-week schedule. Today was good. We had the chance to let Sebastian feel the car with a little lower downforce trim today. We are not all the way to where we would qualify, but we are starting to let him see the car in different downforce levels and that was a positive step for us. We are looking forward to tomorrow. It is going to be an important day because weather-wise, it is probably going to be the most like what we will see this weekend and in the race. You are going to see a very busy race track tomorrow.”

Roberto Guerrero [Mentoring Saavedra]: “I think overall we had a great day and made a lot of progress. The gap to the frontrunners is getting shorter and I think that is very encouraging. Sebastian had a big moment when he tried to go too fast too soon and you don’t achieve anything by that. It was another good lesson learned. If you look at our speed, we are pretty much with everyone except the frontrunners who are in a class of their own.”