WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (AP) – IndyCar racing returned to Watkins Glen International on Friday after a six-year hiatus, and New York’s Thunder Road didn’t disappoint as the teams practiced in earnest for the first time.
“It’s great to be back, great to be going around here,” Helio Castroneves said. “This is the DNA of open-wheel racing, and the history behind this place. It suits perfectly the series.”
Most of the teams were permitted to test earlier for this weekend’s race, which replaced a street event in Boston that was canceled. WGI was repaved after last season, and it created a smooth-as-silk surface with gobs of grip that opened a lot of eyes in Friday’s two practices on a sunny day.
In morning practice around the 3.37-mile, 11-turn layout, all 22 drivers eclipsed Ryan Briscoe’s track record of 1 minute, 28.1322 seconds at 137.657 mph set in 2009 in a Honda V-8. Scott Dixon, a three-time winner at The Glen, topped the charts in the No. 9 Target Chevrolet in both sessions: he turned a fast lap of 1:23.8921 seconds at 144.614 mph in the morning session and 1:22.8740 at 146.391 mph in the two-hour afternoon session to edge Castroneves and Will Power of Team Penske.
“There’s no other track where you commit like here,” said Power, second in the standings, 28 points behind teammate Simon Pagenaud with two races left in the season. “It’s so different. There’s no comparison. It’s so much faster.”