Scott Dixon Tops First Day of Tests at Homestead

Scott Dixon topped the charts in the first day of testing at Homestead-Miami on Tuesday night, posting the best time of 25.2919 on an average speed of 211.372 mph. The reigning Indy Car champion was followed by Penske leading driver this year Ryan Briscoe, while returning 2007 IRL champion Dario Franchitti had to settle for 3rd place overall.

“We're pretty pleased with the results so far. A lot of our focus was making the car better on older tires. Balance was another thing we spent quite a bit of time on. Overall, we're just trying to pick up where the team left off at the end of last season and start the year off on the right foot,” said Dixon after posting the fastest time of the day on Tuesday.

Target Chip Ganassi Racing therefore put both its drivers into the Top 3 at Hoemstead, while rivals Team Penske received a boost on Tuesday following newcomer Will Power's 5th place on the testing sheet. The Australian, who signed a deal with Penske for the first few rounds of the IRL season – replacing Helio Castroneves – joined KV Technology's Mario Moraes (4th overall) in the Top 5 of the first testing session.

“The day went well. I was just getting back into the groove. I haven't been on an oval in a while, so we went through a number of things and we were able to get the car better. I'm really just trying to learn the car and the team as quickly as I can. We're not trying to set the world on fire in practice, we just want to learn and get better,” said Power after the Tuesday testings.

Castoneves, the man he's about to replace at Penske for we-don't-know-exactly how long, was the only top driver to miss the testing at Homestead, as he is due to face his tax evasion trial next Monday.

Here is the complete timesheet of the first day of testing at the Homestead track:

1. Scott Dixon (Ganassi) 25.2919
2. Ryan Briscoe ( Penske) 25.3614
3. Dario Franchitti (Ganassi) 25.3842
4. Mario Moraes (KV) 25.4389
5. Will Power (Penske) 25.4404
6. Marco Andretti (Andretti Green) 25.4940
7. Robert Doornbos (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) 25.5077
8. Tony Kanaan (Andretti Green) 25.5707
9. Graham Rahal (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) 25.6032
10. Danica Patrick (Andretti Green) 25.6133
11. Raphael Matos (Luczo Dragon) 25.6165
12. Ed Carpenter (Vision) 25.6192
13. EJ Viso (HVM) 25.6235
14. Mike Conway (Dreyer & Reinbold) 25.6319
15. Hideki Mutoh ( Andretti Green) 25.6984
16. Milka Duno (Newman/Haas/Lanigan) 25.7759
17. Jaime Camara (Conquest) 25.7790
18. Vitor Meira (Foyt) 25.8032
19. Justin Wilson ( Dale Coyne) 25.8457
20. Stanton Barrett (3G) 25.9724