Patrick paces Carb Day
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ByEurosport
Published 28/05/2005 at 15:05 GMT
Danica Patrick certainly doesn't make it easy for herself. The Rahal Letterman driver has not only become the fastest woman to qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, but she has now confirmed her position as one of the fastest drivers by pacing Carb Day, attracting more media attention.
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Patrick had planned to take it easy during Friday's final test before Sunday's big day, putting just 15-25 laps on the Honda engine, but upon returning to the garage, her names was flashing atop the timesheets, beating poleman Tony Kanaan into second with Britain's Dan Wheldon third.
"We weren't trying to come out here and be the fastest, but it's always good to be," Patrick said. "It's good for confidence, and it's good to see that your car can do it, especially having downforce on the car now as opposed to qualifying conditions.
"I think it's good that we were fastest, and I think there were some people there at the end, trying to go fastest a little bit there at the end and, we still stuck there," she added. "I think it's a good thing and a confidence-boosting afternoon for Honda."
Kanaan played down the importance of the Carb Day test, saying that he only went out to make sure that the car was well bolted together ahead of Sunday's race. "People make a big deal out of it and I don't see the reason," he said
"We've had all month to prep for this and we just wanted to see if everything was OK," he added. "We don't have any leaks or anything, so I'm happy. We're ready, it felt good but then, when it's fast it's always good."
Bitain's Dan Wheldon was also happier with his car after managing to set a good speed on his own, a factor of his race that he was worried about. "The Klein Tools/Jim Beam car was definitely fast on its own today, so I'm happy about that," he said.
"It's the Indianapolis 500 and you've got what you've got right now; you can't change it," he added. "It seems a lot quicker, so I have to give them a lot of credit because they've worked hard all month."
Follow the 89th Indianapolis 500 LIVE on Eurosport.com from 19:00 CET on Sunday.
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