Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Indy tire test notes

Rice among four drivers taking part in today's testing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

SPEEDWAY, Ind.. - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing, with 2004 Indianapolis 500 Champion, Buddy Rice, took part in Firestone's tire test session today at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, turning in 58 laps (145 miles) on the 2.5-mile oval.

Joining Rice on the track were Tony Kanaan of Andretti Green Racing, Scott Dixon of Target/Chip Ganassi Racing, and Ryan Briscoe of Team Penske.

The day began with cool and damp conditions. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway crews were drying the track prior to the original scheduled start time of 9 a.m. due to overnight rains in the area. Rice was first on the track shortly after 10 a.m. An hour lunch break began at 12:30 p.m., and afterwards, the team continued to make runs until just before 5 p.m.

Rice and Dreyer & Reinbold Racing took part in the test to help gather data for Firestone engineers as they look to develop their Firestone Firehawk IndyCar Series tires for the 2009 Indianapolis 500.

Next up for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is the Nikon Indy 300, an exhibition race on the Streets of Surfer's Paradise, Australia.

#15 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Honda Dallara Driver Buddy Rice

"It's great to come test here in Indy before the winter weather of rain and snow gets here. Once the place gets covered up in the weather, you get little chance to run here again before May. I was here a couple of weeks ago for Moto GP, and obviously the weather is nicer now than it was then. We're just here getting a handle on the car and ourselves while helping out Honda and Firestone gather data for their technology and try to make improvements where they can. It was nice to get back into the car, and now we'll turn our focus to getting ready for Australia."

-credit: drr