For most of the session, Newgarden led with a 177.562mph lap but as two-lap qualifying simulations got underway, McLaughlin edged ahead with a 177.669mph effort.
Then Newgarden delivered a 178.600 mph, just 25.1959sec around the 1.25-mile WWT Raceway, before going still faster with a 178.774mph.
With this 90-minute session being the only practice before qualifying at 4.00pm local (Central) time and the race at 7.40pm, there was a lot of work for everyone to get through, between qualifying sims, race runs on worn tyres, and pitstop practice.
Sebastien Bourdais of AJ Foyt Racing and Penske’s Will Power, the 2018 winner at the circuit, both turned more than 80 laps.
The Andretti Autosport-Hondas looked strong in race trim, and Ryan Hunter-Reay delivered a good mock qualifying lap with third fastest, ahead of Graham Rahal in the Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda.
Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson put their Chip Ganassi Racing-Hondas into fifth and sixth, but championship leader Alex Palou – who will take a nine-spot grid penalty for an early engine change following the blow-up at IMS last week – was only 17th.
Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward ensured both Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolets were in the top 10, sandwiching the Andretti cars of James Hinchcliffe and Colton Herta.
Ahead of his first ever oval race, Romain Grosjean did a fine job – and turned 72 laps – to clock 11th fastest time.
RESULTS
|
P |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
FL |
Laps |
FSpeed |
Engine |
Team |
|
1 |
Josef Newgarden |
25.1715 |
25.1715 |
53 |
54 |
178.774 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
2 |
Scott McLaughlin |
25.3280 |
0.1565 |
59 |
67 |
177.669 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
3 |
Ryan Hunter-Reay |
25.3462 |
0.1747 |
32 |
41 |
177.541 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
4 |
Graham Rahal |
25.3560 |
0.1845 |
57 |
62 |
177.473 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
5 |
Scott Dixon |
25.3574 |
0.1859 |
37 |
48 |
177.463 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
6 |
Marcus Ericsson |
25.3674 |
0.1959 |
59 |
67 |
177.393 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
7 |
Felix Rosenqvist |
25.4004 |
0.2289 |
47 |
58 |
177.163 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren SP |
|
8 |
Colton Herta |
25.4628 |
0.2913 |
50 |
52 |
176.728 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
9 |
James Hinchcliffe |
25.4632 |
0.2917 |
30 |
50 |
176.726 |
Honda |
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
|
10 |
Pato O’Ward |
25.4667 |
0.2952 |
35 |
51 |
176.701 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren SP |
|
11 |
Romain Grosjean |
25.4801 |
0.3086 |
68 |
72 |
176.608 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
|
12 |
Alexander Rossi |
25.4968 |
0.3253 |
25 |
50 |
176.493 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
|
13 |
Takuma Sato |
25.5141 |
0.3426 |
60 |
63 |
176.373 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
|
14 |
Simon Pagenaud |
25.5145 |
0.3430 |
39 |
51 |
176.370 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
15 |
Ed Jones |
25.5550 |
0.3835 |
52 |
57 |
176.091 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan |
|
16 |
Will Power |
25.5591 |
0.3876 |
74 |
82 |
176.063 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
|
17 |
Alex Palou |
25.5818 |
0.4103 |
60 |
65 |
175.906 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
18 |
Conor Daly |
25.6160 |
0.4445 |
7 |
45 |
175.671 |
Chevy |
Carlin |
|
19 |
Jack Harvey |
25.6844 |
0.5129 |
31 |
61 |
175.204 |
Honda |
Meyer Shank Racing |
|
20 |
Tony Kanaan |
25.7647 |
0.5932 |
47 |
55 |
174.658 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
|
21 |
Sebastien Bourdais |
25.8194 |
0.6479 |
10 |
87 |
174.288 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
22 |
Rinus VeeKay |
25.8498 |
0.6783 |
49 |
53 |
174.083 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
|
23 |
Dalton Kellett |
25.8810 |
0.7095 |
32 |
62 |
173.873 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
|
24 |
Ed Carpenter |
25.9922 |
0.8207 |
41 |
60 |
173.129 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
shares
comments