The IndyCar Series made its first appearance at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in force as eighteen cars attended a one day test at the circuit.

While the test was a first for the Indy Racing League at Mid-Ohio, it was hardly a new place for many drivers including Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves. Franchitti had won two Pole positions previously at the 2.25 mile road course while Castroneves netted two wins. Both drivers' accomplishments came while racing in the former CART series which was a regular part of the Mid-Ohio schedule from 1983 through 2003.

The return of IndyCars to the facility saw these two drivers back on top of the charts as Franchitti lead the way with a lap of 1:07.6667 seconds / 120.130 mile per hour average.

The track was not the same track that the duo last raced on though as a $6 million capital improvement project recently completed included repaving of the entire track and pit lane and installation of all new entry and exit curbing.

The changes brought a degree of uncertainty despite the track layout remaining largely unchanged according to Franchitti, "The new surface was a worry coming into this test, because I hadn't driven here, but it was no problem at all."

The changes proved to be for the better though according to the 2007 Indy 500 Champion, "It's just smoother, good grip levels, so that was really nice. I think the times very impressive, and I think there's more to come."

Team Penske pilot Castroneves noted that he was just excited to be back at a favorite track. The improvements were an added bonus.

"I have to say, this place is awesome. This is a true road course. It combines fast corners, slow corners, difficult to pass, elevation. It's really, really fun. The surface of the track changed. It's much smoother. Every time you go out, you're improving your times. I can't wait to come back and race."

Castroneves was just a tenth of a second slower than Franchitti followed by Marco Andretti and Buddy Rice.

Rice and Andretti are both coming off of a string of bad luck but look to their road course packages as a way to break the cycle.

"We're definitely looking for a good result when we come back here," commented Rice. "We have a fast road course car, even though we had issues in St. Pete, and we know we're going to be competitive."

Andretti also felt good about his return to the road courses, "I think we have confidence in our speed and our balance. I'm pretty confident in my race car. We made the tires last and we were still fast."

The day was relatively clean despite several off track excursions, none of which involved any significant damage. Rice did make contact with Scott Sharp in an early afternoon incident in turn two but both cars returned to practice shortly after.

Mid Ohio test times
1 Franchitti 1:07.6667 120.130
2 Castroneves 1:07.7671 119.952
3 Andretti 1:07.9717 119.591
4 Rice 1:08.0763 119.407
5 Dixon 1:08.0858 119.391
6 Hornish 1:08.3735 118.888
7 Kanaan 1:08.5870 118.518
8 Patrick 1:08.7896 118.169
9 Wheldon 1:08.8937 117.990
10 Manning 1:08.9213 117.943
11 Scheckter 1:09.0130 117.787
12 Simmons 1:09.6386 116.728
13 Foyt 1:10.3682 115.518
14 Sharp 1:10.6933 114.987
15 Matsuura 1:10.9416 114,584
16 Carpenter 1:10.9689 114.540
17 Fisher 1:12.8640 111.561
18 Meira 1:29.2151 91.115

ORS / CAPSIS International