AJ Foyt Racing Track Report – May 16

A.J. Foyt Racing logo

Track Report: May 16

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. May 16, 2016 – Turning few laps during Opening Day practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the No. 14, 41, and 35 teams worked to establish a baseline for the upcoming week both on and off track.

Takuma Sato led the three teams in first practice, turning 24 laps with a top speed of 223.826mph to finish in 20th position in his No. 14 ABC Supply Honda. “It was a short day but at least we were able to do a proper shakedown and went through very basic study. We ran in very light traffic. Primarily today I ran just by myself to get into rhythm,” noted Sato.

Turning the shortest amount of laps of the team in the No. 35 Alfe Heat Treating Honda, Alex Tagliani finished the day in 30th place, turning 13 laps at a top speed of 220.715mph. In regard to first practice of the month on the oval track, Tagliani said, “Opening Day was okay. It was interesting to feel the car with some new things on it. We have work to do obviously, but it was good to get the car on track and run it. I think we were quite conservative with downforce for the few laps we did.”

Jack Hawksworth completed his 14 laps on track with a top speed of 213.586mph, but noted that much of the focus of the No. 41 ABC Supply Honda crew was engine, not speed. “Today we were trying to work in the engine. We didn’t get many laps in so we don’t have a clear vision of where we are. The car was a little pushy so we made a few wing adjustments. It was nice to go over 200mph again on an oval like this. We’ll see where we are tomorrow with more laps under our belt.”

A.J. Foyt Racing returns to the track tomorrow at 12:00pm for the second practice session of the week ahead of next week’s 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil.