Motegi: Vision Racing Thursday notes

VISION RACING COMPLETES FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE IN JAPAN WITH TOP-FIVE DRIVE
VISION RACING PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING REPORT - April 17, 2008 (Twin Ring Motegi)

MOTEGI, Japan - The first day of practice at Twin Ring Motegi in preparation for the Indy Japan 300 is complete and Vision Racing driver Ed Carpenter drove the No. 20 Menards Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone into the top-five with a fifth place drive.

His teammate, A.J. Foyt IV and the Vision Racing No. 2 Honda powered Dallara finished just outside the top-10 in the 11th spot.

The duo is picking up nearly where they left off on the last oval at Homestead-Miami Speedway when Carpenter took fifth and Foyt finished ninth in the race.

Carpenter, who is currently 10th in the IndyCar Series point standings will be driving in his fifth race at Twin Ring Motegi. Last year Carpenter earned his first running finish at the track when he started 16th and finished 15th. The year prior, in 2006, he finished 20th due to an accident. In 2005 he finished 16th also as a result of an accident and was 22nd in 2004 due to mechanical failure.

Carpenter has been running at the finish in both races this season as has Foyt who will also be making his fifth attempt at Twin Ring Motegi.

Foyt started 14th in 2007 at the Twin Ring and drove to a 14th place finish for Vision Racing. In 2003 and 2004 he was running at the finish as well and finished 14h and 15th respectively. In 2005 he finished 18th due to an accident.

The day's practice saw no accidents; however the afternoon session was interrupted by rain, eventually resumed and was finally concluded by rain.

Ed Carpenter - No. 20 Menards/Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone

On practice:
"We had a pretty good couple of practice sessions today and the car ran well. Obviously we are happy to put in times that are good enough for the top-five, but we also want to keep working to go faster. So far this year our oval package has been good for us so the goal now is to keep building off of that and keep improving it. I hope the rain holds off tomorrow so we can try to qualify and see how we stack up with everybody else in qualifying."

A.J. Foyt IV - No. 2 Vision Racing Dallara/Honda/Firestone

On practice:
"I thought we had a fairly good day of practice. We've got some things to work on to try and get faster, but the overall I am pretty happy with the car. If we can get some more track time tomorrow, then I think we'll be able to work on moving up."

-credit: vr