Fisher And Howard Swap Seats To Wrap Up Barber Open Test

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Sarah Fisher Racing (SFR) drivers Sarah Fisher and Jay Howard successfully completed a two-day testing span at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL in preparation for the upcoming Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on April 11.

Sarah Fisher Racing testing at Barber Motorsports Park Credit: Ron McQueeny/IndyCar Series

Fisher, who turned 63 laps yesterday on the 17-turn, 2.38 mile circuit, used today as a learning day while teammate Jay Howard took to the course. It was originally planned that Fisher would pilot the SFR Honda Powered Dallara later in the day, but track time was cut short due to weather conditions and a lengthy yellow flag early in the first session.

"We changed our plan slightly with Jay due to our on track time availability being shorter today. We only had a 12pm- 4pm window, along with a big accident taking up an hour of that time. We thought it was within our best interests to keep him in car the entire three hours available and learn as much as we could about the car for when we come back," said Fisher, who was recently a guest on The Bob and Tom Show. "We saw him and the team making big gains with an hour and a half to go, which will give us a good starting point come race weekend in April. Despite our similarities, there are a few differences between us, which we will continue to work on between now, my first race at St. Petersburg, and his first road race at Mid-Ohio. We did learn a lot and improved as a team over our test in Sebring, which is the bottom line at day's end."

Howard, whose first road course race for SFR will be at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course later this season, used this experience to continue building rapport with his teammate and crew. The No. 66 driver, who will be running a tailored schedule with backing from Service Central for SFR in 2010, hit the track mid-afternoon to complete 37 laps with his best time of 1:14.18 coming on lap 32.

"It was a great opportunity to complete as many laps as I did under the circumstances here today," said Howard, who was featured on MTV's Real World/Road Rules Challenge this past fall. "We were hoping to do a little better, but as long as we learned something as a team, the test was beneficial. Overall, it was a good day for myself and Sarah Fisher Racing."

The 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series season opens March 14 on the streets of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The race will be telecast live on the VERSUS network at noon (EST). The race will air live on the IMS Radio Network and XM IndyCar channel 145. The radio broadcast also will be carried on www.indycar.com, with a broadcast coverage summary available at www.indycar.com.

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