Conor Daly Is Top Dog in INDYCAR Open Test at Gateway

MADISON, Ill. – Conor Daly led the pack in his No. 4 ABC Supply Chevrolet at Gateway Motorsports Park today, topping both sessions of the Verizon IndyCar Series Open Test in which 21 drivers participated.

“As soon as we rolled off the truck the car was fast,” said Daly, who logged 67 laps

over the 1.25-mile oval. “I felt really confident in it all day and I think we continued to make good progress. It was a very positive day for the ABC Supply team and I hope we can roll this momentum to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the coming weeks.”

Carlos Munoz was eighth quickest in his No. 14 ABC Supply Chevrolet with a speed of 171.432 mph. Munoz had a different set-up from Daly as the team wanted to explore two different directions since it was their first time to the track with this car, engine and drivers. Midway through the day, the team opted to go in the direction of Daly’s setup and Munoz improved his speed, despite not having as many laps as he would have liked. He ran 43 laps losing a bit of time due to the changeover of setups.

“We started the test with a really different setup from Conor but his car was running really well so we adopted his direction,” Munoz explained. “With the switchover we couldn’t do quite as many laps but I am happy with my car -- we showed some speed. I’m really happy that Conor was the fastest – his car was really good all day. It is the first test where we rolled out pretty well so we are making progress as a team. We know the track conditions will be different when we come back in August but we’ll have that much more time working together so we’ll see.”

At 176.907 mph, Daly’s speed was over 2 miles per hour faster than that of Helio Castroneves who was second with a speed of 174.559 mph. His Penske teammates—Juan Pablo Montoya (174.339mph), Josef Newgarden (174.329mph) and Simon Pagenaud (172.716mph) who won at Phoenix Saturday—rounded out the top five.

The teams head to Indy next week as they set up shop at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis takes place May 12-13 and will be televised live on ABC-TV on Saturday, May 13 starting at 3:30 p.m. EDT.