Sebring: Highcroft Racing Wednesday notes

PATRON HIGHCROFT RACING FINE TUNES RACE SETUP DURING WEDNESDAY'S PRACTICE AT SEBRING INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

Today's weather at the track in Sebring was a portent of race day, with temperatures close to 80 in this afternoon's practice.Though the warm track, combined with heavy traffic, made for slower-than-ideal lap times overall, the team honed the # 9 Patron Highcroft Racing Acura's setup to ensure a strong car for tomorrow's qualifying session.Scott Sharp, who took the wheel for the afternoon session said, "Today we were working in race trim trying different down force settings and getting comfortable in traffic, so all of that was good experience for the race.It is incredibly hard to get a clear lap out there but I'll get my fair share of driving in the 12 hours to figure all of that out."

David Brabham, who drove yesterday, agreed, saying, "We've been implementing different setup changes -- some good, some not as good. It's been very productive because it's given us good direction for the race.Right now, we've got a little bit of time to find but we're confident that by tomorrow, we should be able to nail down a good qualifying lap. We're focusing on getting a good race setup.With 12 hours of racing a good setup is more important than being the fastest in 20 minutes of qualifying."

In this morning's practice, Stefan Johansson found it challenging to get a good rhythm saying, "It was semi-damp when I went out and we had a slight mechanical issue, so the session was a bit choppy.But the crew resolved it and we should be in good shape for qualifying tomorrow."

-credit: hr