Castroneves returns to track just hours after frightening flip at Indy
INDIANAPOLIS -- On a day that began with "Helio's Flying Circus" -- as three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Castroneves flipped over after losing control of his car at Indianapolis Motor Speedway -- the driver's next act included a triumphant return to the race course in his backup car with less than 20 minutes remaining in the session.
Oh, and by the way, Carlos Munoz topped the 230-mph barrier with a fast lap at 230.121 miles per hour in a Honda to set the fastest speed so far in practice for the 99th Indianapolis 500.
It was a wild Wednesday for Castroneves, who was also docked eight championship points for his first-lap incident with Scott Dixon at the start of last Saturday's Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. One hour after his penalty was announced, Castroneves' Chevrolet flipped in the South Chute between Turns 1 and 2.
Team Penske immediately prepared his backup car to get him back on the course by the end of Wednesday's practice. That's typical Penske psychology to help the drivers get the crash out of their minds.
"I think the ability of the team in five hours to put that (backup) car together - we had to take the engine out of one car and take a lot of the pieces off - and get out for a few laps says a lot," said team owner Roger Penske. "It looks like we're competitive; we ran 226 mph. To me, it's a good start for tomorrow.
"Things happen here so fast you can't predict them, and when you do you have to handle the situation and that is what your guys did here today. You are always concerned when a car gets backwards the way the car went up and went over but you can only test so much in your simulations and wind tunnel. This is something that is good to know now and look at it and try to help all of the cars on the track. The whicker on the front of the car pinned the front down as it was sliding and the rear end went up in the air and the holes in the floor exacerbated that."
Castroneves was able to end his day with a smile on what could have been a very difficult time for the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner.
"The car was very fast - we even were taking off," Castroneves said. "But that's not the way we want to take off. I have to thank the messages from the fans for the encouragement. I'm here today because of those prayers and the safety and the track. I have to pay a big respect to my guys at Team Penske, just to be able to put a car together and be back again. That was impressive. You cannot be scared. When you go out there you are more confident because of all these guys.
"I'm super happy now we were able to run. I didn't want to wait until Thursday so now we focus on Thursday and Friday."
Castroneves did not expect to flip backwards but was surprised by the soft landing.
"It's like I spun out any other race track," said Castroneves. "This new Aero Kit we are trying something different and even the most experienced guys get surprised. For me looking at the data I know exactly what happened so I have no issues. It's understanding the car and it's limits. To come back like this is great.
"Now, we can focus on the next two days."
Castroneves believes the setup from Tuesday worked but the new sidepod the team is using pushed the limit under Wednesday's weather conditions.
"It's the risk that we are involved," Castroneves said. "When I lost it in Turn 1, I lost it and I expected it to win but when it took off it was surprising. I was expecting a big shunt and it didn't happen.
"My life flashes by me every day so that is nothing new to me."
The only other time Castroneves has been airborne was at a test at Richmond International Raceway when the Verizon IndyCar Series used to race at that facility.
Munoz's fast lap came with just six minutes left in Wednesday's practice.
"Really, we were not looking for a tow, we just made a change and said, 'OK let's go in the group and see if we can just cop a tow and feel the car in traffic a little bit,'" Munoz explained. "I went back to the pack and it's practice, so whoever gets the best tow is the one who is going to finish first. The positive thing is that I feel really comfortable with the car, the car feels OK. In traffic and by my own, I feel fast. We have to continue working, we have still two days of testing so we have to try some stuff."
Townsend Bell's Chevrolet was second at 223.969 mph followed by 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan's 228.172 mph in a Chevrolet. James Davison's Honda was fourth at 228.043 mph followed by second-year driver Sage Karam's Chevrolet at 227.822 mph.
Thirty three drivers ran 2,146 laps in Wednesday practice. There is more action Thursday with practice starting at 12 p.m. ET.
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