Penske quartet fights for 'hundredths of seconds'

Simon Pagenaud says that the four Team Penske drivers have been reduced to chasing tiny fractions of a second in in the quest for any edge that might turn into an advantage during this weekend's Verizon IndyCar Series title-decider at Sonoma.

The four Penske drivers, who are all in championship contention, were covered by just under 0.2s when they locked out the top four places in Friday's second practice session, while main title threat Scott Dixon was a further 0.15s in arrears.

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A test at the Northern California track last week, combined with yesterday's open test, allowed Penske to roll onto the track with their cars already somewhere close to optimized on Friday morning, and reigning champion Pagenaud said that the minuscule margins separating the cars was forcing each driver/engineer combination to dig deep in the hunt for any remaining advantages.

"We're fighting for hundredths of seconds right now," he said. "Any shifts, any upshifts, even though it's electronic, any reaction of the engine, any little details you can work on to optimize everything is going to be important. We're going to be looking at everything tonight. The No.1 team has been tremendous in preparation for this weekend at looking at every detail. That's what we're going to need to do to get that pole, and me and my driving is going to be the other key. It's going to be hard to get the lap right, because you only get one or two laps on new tires, so if you don't get it right, you don't get the pole."

Pagenaud went into last year's final race with 43-point advantage over Will Power. His situation is slightly different this year; the Frenchman currently sitting fourth in the standings behind his three teammates and trailing leader Josef Newgarden by 34 points, but says that he approaching the weekend exactly as he did 12 months ago.

"For me, it's simple," he said. "Just pure attack mode this weekend. No real thinking of anybody around me. It's just me, and my race car, and my team. Obviously I've got a lot of information from teammates that's useful, but so far our program has been going on rails, and I feel good about it.

"I just have to find a way to extract the best out of myself. That's going to be key, just like I did last year."