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INDYCAR MEDIA CONFERENCE

March 11, 2016

THE MODERATOR: We are pleased to be joined by the two fastest drivers of Friday's practice session, Will Power and Scott Dixon.

Scott, second fastest today, also on podium three times before, but haven't gotten that win yet. What is it going to take to get to that next step?

SCOTT DIXON: Probably beating a Penske car, I think. They're typically pretty strong here.

But today, pretty happy. St. Pete is a bit of a thorn in our side. Second practice we made some wholesale changes and pretty good gains. Put the one set of new tires, halfway through the run actually got some traffic.

I think the car has some good potential, which you can see. Hopefully we can carry that through to tomorrow.

Definitely for us it's always a tricky track. It's Friday. Obviously Sunday is the day that counts. Hopefully we can start near the front and make the most of it and have a strong start to the season.

THE MODERATOR: Will Power, two wins here in St. Petersburg and two pole positions. You bounced back well in the afternoon after a difficult morning.

WILL POWER: Yeah, definitely a bad start, but full credit to the guys to get the car back out there, get some laps, get my head around the track and so on.

Yeah, it was a good session. Ran in circles with the setup. P1, pretty happy.

THE MODERATOR: What is your reaction when the other drivers that have been in today say it will take beating a Penske car to win?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I don't know. It's just one of those tracks. It's like Mid-Ohio. Even when we're not that far off, sometimes things just unfold in the right way.

Yeah, quite different setups on the cars. I don't know. It's just one of those tracks for us and I hope it continues.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Will and Scott.

Q. What is the difference between the Chevy and Honda aero kits?
WILL POWER: Yeah, obviously had a big gain right there. Good competition. I'm sure it's going to be all mixed up tomorrow in qualifying.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, they seem pretty even par right now. They were quickest in the first session today. We'll have to see what happens in qualifying, but I expect it to be pretty similar.

Yeah, the cars look quite similar now. Maybe that explains it a little bit.

Q. How close do you think we are to a sub one-minute?
WILL POWER: Yeah, it will be close. Hard to say with the weather and everything, the wind.

What was qualifying last year? It could be close, be tight.

Q. Both of you are driving Chevys. I think Chevy did a change in the rear wing behind the pod section. Do you feel any difference in the car? Are you running that one?
WILL POWER: Yeah, there's definitely gain, more efficient. The car is a little bit quicker. They worked hard. We had to do something to open a bit of a gap from Honda, so it's good.

SCOTT DIXON: Yeah, it's maybe changed the car a little bit. Each team is probably going to be different. But between the two cars that were first and second today, the aero configurations are quite a bit different.

I think we're still feeling out a lot. We haven't done a whole lot of testing. The parts came kind of late.

Hope that we gain a little bit more once we understand the panel a little bit better. Kudos to Pratt and Chevy for bringing the first update of three. Definitely a jump in the right direction.

Q. Will, you told me you crashed in the morning because you hit bumps. Is that the same area where the track came apart?
WILL POWER: No, no. No, it's not.

Q. What did they do to fix it? Did they patch the track?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I didn't even see actually.

Q. There was a red flag on the track, so something was wrong.
SCOTT DIXON: It was a manhole. I was the one that actually hit it, I think. I was kind of halfway in the middle of track, hit it. I think around the manhole, they fill in about, I don't know, two foot either side with concrete. It pulled the concrete out.

I guess they used some (indiscernible) I think it's called, some composite material they typically use on the ovals to fix it. It was between turns three and four on that straight, and then there was another one.

Q. (No microphone.)
SCOTT DIXON: Hard to define. There's many bumps down that part of the track.

You can see it. If you walk the track, visually it stands out pretty big. I think with how we come out of the corner, it's typically not a part of the track that we're on, unless you're passing somebody or it's a restart or something. Yeah, one of the areas that you'll see.

Q. (No microphone.)
SCOTT DIXON: I have not.

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