Sears Point: Honda Friday report

Castroneves Quickest in Practice at Infineon

Driving a replacement Team Penske Honda Dallara, Helio Castroneves led the second of two sessions and posted the fastest speed of the day as IndyCar Series practice began Friday at Infineon Raceway just north of San Francisco in preparation for Sunday's Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma County.

The primary cars of both Castroneves and teammate Ryan Briscoe were heavily damaged when one of the team's tractor-trailers caught fire in rural Wyoming while traveling to Infineon. There were no injuries in the incident, but the trailer and all of its contents were either heavily damaged or destroyed. An overheated wheel bearing was suspected to be the cause of the blaze.

Helio Castroneves (#3 Team Penske Honda) quickest in practice today: "Definitely, this is a team that knows how to rebound [following the fire]. The backup cars that they prepared for us today are so good that you couldn't really tell the difference. It's been a tough week for the team, but the guys are all upbeat and still working hard, and that's what it's going to take to beat Andretti Green and Ganassi [Racing]."