1
IndyCar makes its debut at the Circuit of the Americas this weekend, which is most well known for hosting the US Grand Prix.
However with the Formula 1 race months away, IndyCar makes use of the tarmac, with the second round of the NTT IndyCar Series travelling to Austin, Texas to the circuit that was opened in 2012.
The first two practice sessions were held on Friday as drivers prepare for qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday.
Free practice one
Running during the first session was limited, with a blown engine for Colton Herta costing the drivers 15 minutes of track time. Despite the problems from the young American, he ended the session in second place, behind championship leader Josef Newgarden.
There was a scurry for improvements after Herta's drama had been cleared up. However, very few of the drivers managed to set a faster lap time.
Alexander Rossi was third for Andretti, while his teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay was a long way off in fourth. Graham Rahal was sixth, while the almost winner of the St. Petersburg race Felix Rosenqvist was sixth for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Patricio O'Ward made his first appearance of the season for Carlin, but ended the session further down the order.
Free practice one results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 1:48.6567 | - |
| 2. | Colton Herta | Harding Racing | 1:48.7939 | 0.1372 |
| 3. | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 1:49.0456 | 0.3889 |
| 4. | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | 1:49.5011 | 0.8444 |
| 5. | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1:49.5076 | 0.8509 |
| 6. | Felix Rosenqvist | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:49.6846 | 1.0279 |
| 7. | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | 1:49.7204 | 1.0637 |
| 8. | Will Power | Team Penske | 1:49.7380 | 1.0813 |
| 9. | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1:49.8542 | 1.1975 |
| 10. | Max Chilton | Carlin | 1:50.0187 | 1.3620 |
| 11. | Marcus Ericsson | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1:50.0667 | 1.4100 |
| 12. | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1:50.2005 | 1.5438 |
| 13. | Matheus Leist | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 1:50.2346 | 1.5779 |
| 14. | Spencer Pigot | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1:50.3046 | 1.6479 |
| 15. | Santino Ferrucci | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:50.3986 | 1.7419 |
| 16. | Patricio O'Ward | Carlin | 1:50.4896 | 1.8329 |
| 17. | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | 1:50.5477 | 1.8910 |
| 18. | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | 1:50.9096 | 2.2529 |
| 19. | Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1:51.0908 | 2.4341 |
| 20. | Sébastien Bourdais | Dale Coyne Racing | 1:51.3202 | 2.6635 |
| 21. | Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | 1:51.5130 | 2.8563 |
| 22. | Tony Kanaan | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 1:51.7326 | 3.0759 |
| 23. | Kyle Kaiser | Juncos Racing | 1:51.7955 | 3.1388 |
| 24. | Ed Jones | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1:52.6301 | 3.9734 |
Free practice two
There were no major dramas in the second session, with Team Penske continuing to lead the timesheets. However, this time around it was Will Power out on top, marginally ahead of rookie Felix Rosenqvist and Andretti Autosport's Alexander Rossi.
Once again, Hunter-Reay followed Rossi in fourth place, but ended the session ahead of Ed Jones who is running despite breaking a bone in his finger at St. Petersburg two weeks ago.
Zach Veach made it three out of the four Andretti's inside the top ten, as he headed Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud. Pagenaud's teammate Josef Newgarden was two places further down the order, with Takuma Sato lodged in between. Sebastian Bourdais rounded out the top ten.
After his engine blew up this morning, Colton Herta was late joining the session for Harding Steinbrenner Racing in an additional session that acts as the warm-up and hot pitstop practice.
Free practice two results
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Will Power | Team Penske | 1'47.4401 | - |
| 2. | Felix Rosenqvist | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1'47.6150 | 0.1749 |
| 3. | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 1'47.9311 | 0.4910 |
| 4. | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | 1'48.1209 | 0.6808 |
| 5. | Ed Jones | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1'48.1597 | 0.7196 |
| 6. | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | 1'48.1988 | 0.7587 |
| 7. | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | 1'48.2728 | 0.8327 |
| 8. | Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'48.3484 | 0.9083 |
| 9. | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 1'48.4497 | 1.0096 |
| 10. | Sébastien Bourdais | Dale Coyne Racing | 1'48.4585 | 1.0184 |
| 11. | Patricio O'Ward | Carlin | 1'48.5212 | 1.0811 |
| 12. | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1'48.5311 | 1.0910 |
| 13. | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
1'48.5328 | 1.0927 |
| 14. | Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | 1'48.5541 | 1.1140 |
| 15. | Max Chilton | Carlin | 1'48.5643 | 1.1242 |
| 16. | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 1'48.5735 | 1.1334 |
| 17. | Marcus Ericsson | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 1'48.9461 | 1.5060 |
| 18 | Matheus Leist | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 1'49.0534 | 1.6133 |
| 19. | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | 1'49.1639 | 1.7238 |
| 20. | Spencer Pigot | Ed Carpenter Racing | 1'49.2359 | 1.7958 |
| 21. | Santino Ferrucci | Dale Coyne Racing | 1'49.2512 | 1.8111 |
| 22. | Kyle Kaiser | Juncos Racing | 1'50.5787 | 3.1386 |
| 23. | Tony Kanaan | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 1'51.6903 | 4.2502 |
Grand Prix of Belgium
G. Zhou
Replies (1)
Login to replyRam Samartha
Posts: 1,172
Hey Fergal, any chance of getting some highlights of FE weekends as well? I don't know about others but I like the FE racing scene as much, if not more than then IndyCar. Unfortunately the races aren't always available to watch on race weekends, so it would be nice to see some news. Some good racing going on there from the races I've seen so far this season.