Giaffone Quickest at Miami-Homestead Tests

Testing wrapped up at Homestead - Miami Speedway recently and IRL rookie Felipe Giaffone continued to lead with the fastest laps running in the low 27 second range. Following closely on his heels, however were the Marlboro Penske cars of Gil De Ferran and defending Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves. With the addition of the Penske team to the full time participants in the IRL this season, it's sure to make a more interesting and competitive season.

Speaking of his practice efforts, Giaffone said, "My team is learning about IRL,” Giaffone said. “At the same time, they are a great team. They have had a lot of success on ovals. Yesterday, in the first laps that I did with them the car was pretty good right out the box. I was really surprised. We still have to improve our car with the long runs. But this is typical for this track. It’s hard to go a lot of laps consistently here."

Others participating in the two day test were Buzz Calkins and Eddie Cheever. They showed consistent speeds in the 28 second range, but could not get their machines to match the output of Giaffone or the two Penske cars. While these IRL veterans were working the kinks out of their cars, the Penske team is trying to get adjusted to the IRL and the difference between its machines and those of CART, where Penske has spent the majority of his time in the past few years.

Gil De Ferran, the runner-up to Castroneves in last year's "500" commented, "Despite Marlboro Team Penske’s successful results at Indy, we have very little experience with these cars. So, we have a lot to learn. It’s like we are stepping into someone else’s backyard."

Castroneves added, "The IRL cars are completely different,” Castroneves said. “We have a lot to learn both equipment-wise and with the new circuits." One thing that the Penske team will not have to face since its move to the IRL is the changes needed to compete on both ovals and road/street courses. In the IRL, all tracks are ovals.

Word has it, however, that there is talk of adding two road courses to the IRL schedule at some future date. These, most likely, would be Sears Point and Watkins Glen, two of the most historic courses in auto racing. Another new venue for the IRL is the possibility of racing at Daytona International Raceway. Whether this would be using the oval or the infield road course is unknown, but Tony George has made it known that it would be nice if the IRL could visit the most famous Southern speedway in the nation and the speedway that is second only to George's own Indianapolis Motor Speedway in tradition and historic significance. These would be welcome changes to the IRL schedule in my opinion, and it would be nice to see them come about from a fan's perspective.

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