Hinchcliffe Tops Charts in Barber Test

Firestone Indy Lights cars roared to life on Friday (February 26), with the lone official pre-season test taking place at Barber Motorsports Park. In difficult and tricky cool conditions, it was four returning race pilots who led the way when the final checkered flag waved, setting the stage for entertaining season-long battle for championship honors.

Canadian James Hinchcliffe, driving for Team Moore Racing, posted a quick lap of 1:14.9714 to pace the 14 drivers participating in the test Barber Motorsports Park – a month before the opener on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla.

“It was a great day for us on the No. 2 car,” Hinchcliffe said. “I’m really happy, especially coming into a new team with new people. We are all working well together right off the bat and that translated into the speed we showed on the track. Everyone at Team Moore Racing deserves a huge pat on the back because there have been some long hours getting everything ready in time for this test. I’m happy that the hard work paid off.”

Martin Plowman in the No. 27 AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport car was second-quick at 1:15.1319, while teammate Charlie Kimball was third at 1:15.1715. Sebastian Saavedra, who finished third in the 2009 series standings, was fourth with a best lap of 1:15.3817 in the No. 29 Bryan Herta Autosport car. All four returning racers are with new teams this season.

“I was pretty happy with today,” Plowman said. “I’m never going to be truly happy unless I am P1 or on pole, but it was a solid day. We got a lot done with our testing program. We started off the day strong with a good base car and fine-tuned it the rest of the day. I don’t think we showed a true potential today, but we did some long runs in the afternoon that leaves me very optimistic for when we come back.”

The top seven were separated by only 0.6326 of a second. Veteran racer Jan Heylen, in what is expected to be a one-ff test run, made his debut in the No. 17 Team E entry and was fifth quick (1:15.5407). Stefan Wilson, who competed in six races in 2009, was sixth (1:15.5912) in the No. 28 Bryan Herta Autosport entry.

Another newcomer to the series, Frenchman J.K. Vernay, was seventh (1:15.6040), quickest of the series rookies in the No. 7 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car.

Fourteen drivers participated in the test with rookie Adrian Campos Jr. having the only major incident during the 1,074 laps recorded. Campos Jr. was uninjured following a crash in his Team Moore Racing entry.

Drivers/teams will return to the scenic facility in early April for their second of three races in a row on road/street circuits to kick off the season. The 2010 Firestone Indy Lights season kicks off March 28th at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg with the IZOD Indycar Series.

Keep update with all the Indy Lights driver moves via the EFCN ’10 Tentative Entry List Discussion Thread

Indy Lights
Pre-season Testing – Combined Results
February 26, 2010
Barber Motorsports Park – Leeds, Alabama

Pos.	Driver	Team	Session	Fast Time
1.	James Hinchcliffe	Team Moore Racing	Practice 1	1:14.9604
2.	Martin Plowman	AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport	Practice 1	1:15.0832
3.	Charlie Kimball	AFS racing/Andretti Autosport	Practice 2	1:15.1716
4.	Sebastian Saavedra	Bryan Herta Autosport	Practice 2	1:15.3818
5.	Jan Heylen	Team E	Practice 2	1:15.5407
6.	Stefan Wilson	Bryan Herta Autosport	Practice 2	1:15.5912
7.	Jean-Karl Vernay	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Practice 2	1:15.6040
8.	Gustavo Yacaman	Cape Motorsports/Wayne Taylor Racing	Practice 2	1:16.0609
9.	Pippa Mann, Pippa	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Practice 2	1:16.7144
10.	Richard Kent	Genoa	Practice 2	1:16.8621
11.	Philip Major	Sam Schmidt Motorsports	Practice 2	1:16.9294
12.	Adrian Campos Jr.	Team Moore Racing	Practice 1	1:17.5841
13.	Carmen Jorda	RLR/Andersen Racing	Practice 2	1:18.9406
14.	Rodrigo Barbosa	PDM Racing	Practice 2	1:19.8520

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.