Rookies Wilson, Bernoldi going a lot faster now
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INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Last time at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Justin Wilson and Enrique Bernoldi were going backward.
They're going the right direction now, and a whole lot faster.
"This definitely feels like the right way around the track,'' said Wilson, a former Formula One driver, who raced at Indianapolis in 2003 in the U.S. Grand Prix, which was run clockwise on the Speedway's road course instead of the normal counterclockwise oval. "This is a completely different place from when I ran in Formula One.''
Wilson was eighth at Indy, two laps behind winner Michael Schumacher, in the 2003 USGP. He spent the next four seasons in Champ Car and was second the past two years to series champion Sebastien Bourdais, whose spot with Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing he filled when Bourdais left for F1.
Bernoldi, who was 12th in the 2001 USGP at Indianapolis, left F1 after 2003. He won a championship in the European Formula Renault series, then moved to British F3 for two seasons and the F3000 for two years. He's driving this season for Conquest Racing, one of the new teams to the IRL following the merger with Champ Car.
The 29-year-old Brazilian completed his Indy rookie test Monday, clearing him to begin full Indy 500 practice Tuesday.
"It's a great track,'' Bernoldi said. "It resembles more what I am used to driving, but with really fast corners.''
Wilson easily passed his rookie test on Sunday, turning 10 consecutive laps at each of four progressively faster speed brackets, and his top lap of 218.142 mph was almost 100 mph faster than Schumacher's winning speed in the 2003 USGP.
"Someone told me it was like four quick corners on a road course, and that is what I have found,'' he said of Indy's flat and narrow oval. "The car goes where you point it, whereas on some of the other ovals, that is not the case. It's a really cool feeling when the car releases out of the corner and onto the straight.''
Saturday is the first of four days of qualifying for the May 25 race.
"It's a good starting point,'' said Wilson, a 29-year-old Englishman. "Hopefully, we can start to work on our setups and begin to take some drag out of the car. You can get to a certain level, then you have to start taking downforce out to go quicker. That's when the car starts to get more difficult and you have to start driving it.''
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