Team Penske Indy 500 practice day 3 report

TEAM PENSKE PRODUCES CONSISTENCY DURING INDIANAPOLIS 500 PRACTICE

Ryan Briscoe, Team Penske Chevrolet, Helio Castroneves, Team Penske Chevrolet, Will Power, Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet

Photo by: Eric Gilbert

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (May 14, 2012) – Consistency was the name of the game Monday as Team Penske continued its busy preparation for the 96th Indianapolis 500.

Working primarily on race setups, the team’s three drivers posted nearly identical fast times while recording a total of 149 laps during the third day of practice for the “greatest spectacle in racing.”

Ryan Briscoe led the way with a lap of 218.970 mph in the No. 2 IZOD Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet while completing 71 laps. His fastest lap ranked 15th among the 29 cars that took to the track during Monday’s six-hour practice session.

"It was a busy day for the IZOD Team Penske car,” said Briscoe. “We got some race work with the long runs, which is always helpful. Since it was the first time in some traffic it will give us lots of information to look at tonight and get ready for tomorrow."

Three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves was clocked at 218.728 mph in the No. 3 Shell V-Power Pennzoil Ultra Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet during the 19th of his 37 laps turned on the afternoon. That lap was good enough for 16th-fastest of the day.

"Today was the same as yesterday for the Shell Pennzoil car having a good day,” said Castroneves. “It was the first time we could run with a race set up so that was good to see. Another step in the right direction for Team Penske and Chevy."

IZOD IndyCar Series point leader Will Power had a fast lap of 218.562 mph during his 41 lap-session in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske machine. That lap 17th on the timing chart and gave Power helpful information leading into Tuesday.

"It was good to run in some traffic with the Verizon car today,” said Power. “We had a productive day with being able to see some things we are going to need to do in the race. We will take what we learned today and improve on them for tomorrow.”

Another six-hour practice lies ahead for Team Penske on Tuesday as the IZOD IndyCar Series readies for Saturday’s Pole Day qualifying.