Laguna Seca IndyCar: Hunter-Reay tops second practice

All but two entries ran the softer red-sidewalled Firestone compounds to set their best times, but it was Hunter-Reay who clipped 0.02sec from Felix Rosenqvist’s Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda to edge to the top with a 69.9105sec lap of the 2.238-mile course.

Behind Rosenqvist, FP1 pacesetter Colton Herta put his Harding Steinbrenner Racing-Honda into third, while Simon Pagenaud was top Chevrolet runner in fourth, bouncing back from an off into the Turn 1 gravel, from which he extracted himself.

Less lucky was Scott Dixon in the second Ganassi car, who simultaneously spun off at Turn 10 and caused a red flag, the subsequent penalty costing him the last five minutes of the session.

Santino Ferrucci’s Dale Coyne Racing-Honda was fifth, just ahead of points leader Josef Newgarden in the second fastest Penske, while Will Power was seventh after a mild off at Turn 11 when attempting a second qualifying simulation.

Marcus Ericsson of Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda, Charlie Kimball of Carlin-Chevrolet and Marco Andretti showed promise with ninth through 11th.

Max Chilton in the second Carlin car and title contender Alexander Rossi stayed on Firestone primaries for that session.

The second part of the session, the so-called warm-up and pitstop practice, saw two red flags caused by Ed Jones and Herta failing to negotiate the first left-hander of the exceedingly tight pitlane entrance and stalling.

By leaving his fresh set of reds until this second part of the session, Rossi was easily able to emerge on top with a time eight-tenths faster than his nearest opposition, teammate Hunter-Reay.

Several teams minimized their pitstop practice in order to try and maximize their time on red tires to check their duration. Power ran 18 laps and saw a two-second drop-off, while teammate Pagenaud also looked very strong across his albeit shorter red-tire stint.

Rossi shut his engine down as he exited the Corkscrew on his final lap, as he had run out of fuel. He admitted to the media later it was simply to save the fuel pumps, but the car was able to coast from Turn 8A down the hill, negotiate pitlane entry and still reach his pitbox, albeit at painfully slow pace by the end.

Sebastien Bourdais’ Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan car did not take part in this 'warm-up' session due to neck pains that prompted a visit to IndyCar medical.

Third practice starts at 10am local (Pacific) time.

Session results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Time	Gap
1	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	1'09.9105
2	10	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	1'09.9305	0.020
3	88	Colton Herta	Harding Racing	1'09.9317	0.0212
4	22	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	1'10.1353	0.2248
5	19	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing	1'10.2066	0.2961
6	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	1'10.2248	0.3143
7	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	1'10.2722	0.3617
8	12	Will Power	Team Penske	1'10.3350	0.4245
9	7	Marcus Ericsson	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	1'10.3910	0.4805
10	23	Charlie Kimball	Carlin	1'10.4359	0.5254
11	98	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	1'10.4426	0.5321
12	30	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1'10.4468	0.5363
13	21	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	1'10.4632	0.5527
14	25	Conor Daly	Andretti Autosport	1'10.4633	0.5528
15	59	Max Chilton	Carlin	1'10.6346	0.7241
16	26	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	1'10.6620	0.7515
17	4	Matheus Leist	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	1'10.7009	0.7904
18	18	Sébastien Bourdais	Dale Coyne Racing	1'10.7061	0.7956
19	5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	1'10.7730	0.8625
20	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1'10.8807	0.9702
21	20	Ed Jones	Ed Carpenter Racing	1'10.8846	0.9741
22	14	Tony Kanaan	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	1'10.9484	1.0379
23	27	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	1'11.0234	1.1129
24	60	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	1'11.0584	1.1479
View full results

'Warm-up'/Pitstop practice

Cla	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	11	1'10.0988			114.935
2	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	14	1'10.8926	0.7938	0.7938	113.648
3	Colton Herta	Harding Racing	11	1'10.8950	0.7962	0.0024	113.644
4	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	14	1'11.0371	0.9383	0.1421	113.417
5	Conor Daly	Andretti Autosport	12	1'11.1182	1.0194	0.0811	113.287
6	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	18	1'11.6939	1.5951	0.5757	112.378
7	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	19	1'11.8590	1.7602	0.1651	112.120
8	Max Chilton	Carlin	18	1'11.8839	1.7851	0.0249	112.081
9	Felix Rosenqvist	Chip Ganassi Racing	18	1'11.9168	1.8180	0.0329	112.029
10	Matheus Leist	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	18	1'12.1161	2.0173	0.1993	111.720
11	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	14	1'12.1296	2.0308	0.0135	111.699
12	Ed Jones	Ed Carpenter Racing	14	1'12.1402	2.0414	0.0106	111.683
13	Charlie Kimball	Carlin	19	1'12.3297	2.2309	0.1895	111.390
14	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	17	1'12.4342	2.3354	0.1045	111.229
15	Marcus Ericsson	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	19	1'12.5036	2.4048	0.0694	111.123
16	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	19	1'12.6557	2.5569	0.1521	110.890
17	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	14	1'12.6597	2.5609	0.0040	110.884
18	Will Power	Team Penske	19	1'12.6807	2.5819	0.0210	110.852
19	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	14	1'12.7008	2.6020	0.0201	110.821
20	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	19	1'12.8349	2.7361	0.1341	110.617
21	Santino Ferrucci	Dale Coyne Racing	18	1'13.0335	2.9347	0.1986	110.316
22	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	16	1'13.3935	3.2947	0.360	109.775
23	Tony Kanaan	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	1'13.4652	3.3664	0.0717	109.668
View full results