Thank you for all of the support we received from making it into the 99th running of the Indianapolis 500! It was a very special memory for Bryan and our team. With that said, today is a new day and it’s time to focus on race setup.
With limited practice time, our team was guaranteed a pack of cars every time we went out. While working early with Stefano, Pippa and Saavedra the car felt good. It was able to handle dirty air and pull a tow through the straightaways. Bryan came into the pits for adjustments… then the track went yellow. There was a huge shunt for James Hinchcliffe in turn 3. Later in the day we all found out that he went into surgery. Our team is pulling for him. It’s never good to see a competitor get hurt.
At the same time of this incident, the air hose connection on the car popped off which sent the hose flying around our pit box. This was a pretty scary yet comical moment for the crew. The down time gave us an opportunity to fix the issue and we were ready to go, but the incident put us on hold.
Forty minutes after the incident, the rest of the session was deemed canceled. Just as the team was packing up the car, there was an announcement from Indycar. We would be resuming practice in 30 minutes. Talk about a wacky month.
This was good though. Our team needed the track time.
The 45 minute practice session was on. Bryan would be in and out of the pits every few laps and the team was able to practice hot pit stops. There were many changes thrown into the car and they just weren’t working. Bryan would be sent out in a pack every time out. As the cars closed in it would be really hard for him to hold them off or close back in, unlike before. Change after change, things still weren’t working. Out of nowhere, one hour was added to the session. The pit crew got a chance to work on their stops more. Bryan would practice his “in” and “out” laps. Also, he would enter the pits flying off of turn 4 to simulate race situations. The crew was on point all day with minimal mistakes. When the session ended, our team found out what not to do with the race setup.
We only have one more hour of practice on Carb Day. For the rest of the week, the team will be planning on what they can do to turn the number 88 into a rocket ship.
“I have not failed, I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” – Thomas Edison
Jonathan Byrd's Racing 