The Sao Paulo Indy 300 weekend got under way with an incident-filled practice session this morning on the 2.6-mile temporary street course.
Defending champion Dario Franchitti is off to a tough start in 2010, as he briefly lost control of his No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing machine and slapped the wall coming out of the Turn 7-8 chicane in the latter stages of practice. He had to return to the pits for possible left side damage. Meanwhile, the concrete Sambodromo straightaway is proving to be a tough road to navigate as drivers found themselves sideways and battling for grip. E.J. Viso wound up slapping the wall there and at the end of the session, it was the scene of a full-course yellow as Milka Duno spun out and went nose-first into the barrier.
Other incidents included a major one for Mario Romancini, who crashed in the Turn 3-4 chicane and caused significant damage to the rear area of his No. 34 Conquest Racing machine. Marco Andretti and Mario Moraes also caused yellows, but they were able to keep their cars going with no reported damage on their cars.
Two-time IZOD IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon of TCGR wound up with the fastest time in the session with a lap of 91.7707 seconds in the No. 9 car. He was followed by Team Penske’s Ryan Briscoe (91.9731), Andretti Autosport’s Tony Kanaan (91.9753), Penske’s Will Power (92.3009) and Dreyer and Reinbold Racing’s Mike Conway (92.6446).
The next practice of the day is slated for 10:30 a.m. ET.
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Sao Paulo Indy 300 — Practice Session One
1. 9-Scott Dixon, 91.7707 seconds.
2. 6-Ryan Briscoe, 91.9731.
3. 11-Tony Kanaan, 91.9753.
4. 12-Will Power, 92.3009.
5. 24-Mike Conway, 92.6446.
6. 37-Ryan Hunter-Reay, 92.7943.
7. 2-Raphael Matos, 92.8537.
8. 3-Helio Castroneves, 92.9402.
9. 77-Alex Tagliani, 93.1523.
10. 22-Justin Wilson, 93.3587.
11. 8-E.J. Viso, 93.3998.
12. 78-Simona de Silvestro (rookie), 93.4757.
13. 26-Marco Andretti, 93.4808.
14. 32-Mario Moraes, 93.5580.
15. 06-Hideki Mutoh, 93.6684.
16. 14-Vitor Meira, 93.6970.
17. 10-Dario Franchitti, 93.8456.
18. 19-Alex Lloyd, 93.9907.
19. 5-Takuma Sato (rookie), 94.0126.
20. 4-Dan Wheldon, 94.4779.
21. 34-Mario Romancini (rookie), 94.6577.
22. 7-Danica Patrick, 94.7795.
23. 23-Ana Beatriz (rookie), 97.4300.
24. 18-Milka Duno, 103.4555.
