Mike Conway shook down his No. 27 Hire Heroes Car and his Andretti Autosport teammate Marco Andretti got five laps in driving Conway’s car, before the rains came ending the session early.
Conway’s shake down has a speed of 219.901mph (40.9259 seconds).
“We just wanted to feel some of those (changes) and see what we had,” Conway said. “These were certainly not ideal weather conditions and aren’t representative of what we’re going to see in a few days, so it didn’t make too much sense to log a lot of laps.”
Conway said that he also allowed his teammate Andretti to get some laps in the car so they could compare notes.
“We made some changes overnight, and we wanted to get a feel for what it felt like,” he said. “It’s good for me to let (Marco) have a feel and see if I’m feeling the same things as him. We had the same comments, and we got some good back-to-back running.”
Andretti said it gave him a chance to try something different, also.
“I was able to try a setup that I haven’t run yet,” he said. “I just kind of got my thoughts on it and a second opinion. You always learn. If we were going through pretty extensive test items and stuff like that, it’s different. I just wanted to feel out an overall package.”
This is the second time that a session has been cut short for racing as nobody got any laps in during the Sunday session. Some drivers are okay with the lost day, while others are concerned. Andretti had a quick lap of 224.215mph (40.1163 seconds) for the day, but only ranks 15th on the combined speed chart.
“It makes a difference,” Andretti said of not getting the full session in. “Who knows if we would have gained or they would have gained on us. I’m really worried about the speed of our car. I’ve driven exactly Danica’s setup 3 miles an hour off of her (lap time). I can’t explain why. I’m worried about qualifying for this race. It is still early days, but I honestly think if you’re not going to be qualifying in the top 10 you should be worried.”
Conway says that with the timing, you always have the conscious of the time left.
“We always think we have loads of time at the beginning of the week, and then it’s always the same thing,” Conway said. “You get to the last couple of days, and if you haven’t quite got the car right, then you’re going to be rushing a bit more. As long as the car is good and you keep chipping away at it, I think that’s the main thing. I think we’re really close. I think we’ve got a good balance, and I think the speed is there. We’ve just got to take our time and know that qualifying isn’t that far away.”
Alex Taglani’s lap of 225.878mph from the Monday sesson tops the charts so far during the testing. Testing will continue on Wednesday from noon to 6pm EST.
