IndyCar drivers, teams gather information for Iowa Corn 300

Veteran drivers and rookie drivers alike were helping nine Verizon IndyCar Series racing teams gather information they’ll use to ready for the July 10 Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway. The 19 drivers put the teams’ cars through their paces on the 7/8-mile track Wednesday in a testing day at Iowa Speedway.

The teams hit the track under cloud cover and cooler temperatures in the morning. They had to stop near a scheduled lunch break for a bit of rain then resumed testing in the afternoon’s warmer conditions.

Stars of the Verizon IndyCar Series — past, present and future — including last year’s Iowa Speedway winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, participated in the team test. All of the teams were represented including Chip Ganassi Racing, Team Penske, Andretti Autosport, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Ed Carpenter Racing, KVSH Racing, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, A.J. Foyt Enterprises and Dale Coyne Racing.

Five of the drivers met with media during the break in testing. Hunter-Reay, 2016 Indy 500 winner and series rookie Alexander Rossi, James Hinchcliffe, Helio Castroneves and Sebastien Bourdais talked about the testing and racing on “The Fastest Short Track on the Planet.”

“It’s always great to be back at Iowa. I really enjoy this race track and it’s certainly one of my favorites. We have a long list of things to get through today, but with four cars and Andretti Autosport, hopefully we’ll start picking through that, hopefully if the rain lets up,” Hunter-Reay said.

Hunter-Reay is the two-time defending Iowa Corn 300 champion. The 2016 edition of the IndyCar Series stop at Iowa Speedway is the 10th running IndyCar classic sponsored by Iowa Corn.

“I think the track is great,” Rossi said of his first look of the Speedway. “Ovals are very new to me this year, so still trying to figure out the idiosyncrasies of each one, but the initial impressions were very good. I had a lot of fun this morning. Hopefully we can get back out there soon.”

Castroneves has competed in all the IndyCar Series races at Iowa Speedway. He has run some of the fastest laps ever at the track, but never won at Iowa.

“The Hitachi car seems to be out of the box very fast again. As you touched the subject, I haven’t won here yet — always pole position or always in the front,” Castroneves said.

The team test was free and open to the public. Fans watched the test session from their cars or brought their own lawn chairs to enjoy the warm and sunny day from RV Hill — an area that overlooks the backstretch.

“Hopefully this year is going to be different. The reason I say that is there’s a lot of difference scenarios, not being a night race. … It’s be great to capture our first win here and first of the season,” Castroneves said.

Hinchcliffe, who won the 2013 Iowa Speedway race, missed the 2015 stop at Iowa because of an injury suffered in an on-track crash. He said the testing was going well and he was ready to race again at Iowa Speedway.

Bourdais was the lone driver for the KVSH Racing team. He said they would have one set of data and only his reactions to what the track and car are like to use for upcoming race at Iowa Speedway.

Iowa Speedway’s second high-powered race weekend kicks off on July 9 with the ARCA Racing Series 150 presented by Casey’s General Stores. The Verizon IndyCar Series Iowa Corn 300 will take center stage at 4 p.m. on July 10 and will be broadcast live on NBCSN.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535 or jsheets@newtondailynews.com