Sebastien Bourdais, who qualified on the pole in Phoenix and fifth for the Indianapolis 500 and at Texas in the first three oval races this year, made progress today on the 0.894-mile Iowa Speedway oval in Newton, IA. Bourdais, one of the few drivers unable to test here prior to this weekend, was 19th on the speed charts after morning practice. In qualifying, he piloted the No. 18 Team SealMaster – Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan car to a two-lap average speed of 177.681 mph putting him 15th on the grid for tomorrow’s race. With another practice scheduled for this evening the team is confident they can continue to improve the car as they have done throughout the season.
“The SealMaster crew did the best they could with just the one hour of practice. Not being able to do the test with Firestone a few weeks back (due to wet track conditions) really hurt us. The car was pushing, then loose, a little bit of everything. I had no grip and the car was bouncing up and down. It’s a shame because we usually find solutions, just not in one hour. We will just have to go back, review the data and see what we can come up with for tomorrow.”