INDIANAPOLIS – Will Power did the usual business with a final lap flier putting him top of the timesheets after the opening 75-minute practice for the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Round 5 of the Verizon IndyCar Series season.
A 1:09.8943 lap in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, around the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, was enough to do the job and bump Graham Rahal.
Rahal was second in the No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake Rahal Letterman Lanigan with Theodore Racing Honda at 1:10.0699, ahead of Power’s three Team Penske teammates – Juan Pablo Montoya, series points leader Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves.
Late bumps dropped the Andretti Autosport pair of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi out of the top 10, but until the final two or three minutes, Andretti’s full quartet was all in the top-10. Marco Andretti ended best of the bunch in eighth with Carlos Munoz in 10th, Hunter-Reay 11th and Rossi 13th in what was a much improved session for the team.
Castroneves caused one of two red flags when he stopped on course at Turn 2; the other driver to stop was Matthew Brabham in his opening Verizon IndyCar Series practice session in the No. 61 PIRTEK Team Murray Chevrolet. He lost a rear wheel and stopped at pit in. Brabham only completed three laps.
Others of note in their first session: Spencer Pigot was 12th for RLL Racing; Gabby Chaves was 16th in his first running for Dale Coyne Racing, two tenths clear of teammate Conor Daly in 20th. Brabham was 24th, behind fellow one-off entrants JR Hildebrand and Alex Tagliani.
Per the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team, James Hinchcliffe had a small fire and was unable to run during the session in his No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda.
With potentially hazardous and/or rainy weather expected later today, the first session was a busy one set under calm and clear skies with ambient temperatures of 73 degrees and track temperatures of 89, per Firestone.
Times are below with second practice set from 3 to 4:15 p.m. ET and local time.
