Team Penske fast in opening practice for MavTV 500

Oct 18, 2013

Team Penske has laid down the law at the track he built during opening practice for Saturday’s MavTV 500.

Will Power set the fastest lap of the day at 32.5955 (220.889 mph), the only car the cross the 220 mph margin and sets the fastest lap turned at Auto Club Speedway since 2003. Teammates AJ Allmendinger and Helio Castroneves were 4th and 5th respectively making it 3 out of the top 5 occupied by Team Penske cars.

Chevrolet is currently the manufacturer to beat with 8 out of the top ten cars sporting the Bowtie.The fastest Honda was championship points leader Scott Dixon in 6th.

The Chevrolets have been fast on the 2 previous superspeedways (Indianapolis and Pocono) and were the car to beat at Indianapolis and Pocono they had the pace during the race but the Hondas had the advantage in the fuel milage department which can may dividends in a longer race.

Practice was interrupted 4 times: two for accidents, two for mechanical issues. Pippa Mann lost it in turn 1 and smacked the wall and Takuma Sato lost it and smacked the turn 4 wall hard. Both drivers walked away unhurt.

Sebastian Bourdais suffered from a fuel pickup issue and Josef Newgarden stalled on track, both cars were able to resume the session once they were towed back in.

Practice Results