Practice report
IndyCar Laguna Seca
Laguna Seca IndyCar: Hunter-Reay tops second practice
Ryan Hunter-Reay put his Andretti Autosport-Honda on top in second practice, as three cars cracked the 70sec barrier around WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
David Malsher-Lopez
Edited: Sep 21, 2019, 8:26 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
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
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Laguna Seca IndyCar: Rookies star in first practice despite offs
Next article IndyCar spectator attendance “meaningfully up,” says Miles
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
David Malsher-Lopez
Alex Zanardi: The man whose name is a synonym for “hero”
IndyCar
IndyCar
Alex Zanardi: The man whose name is a synonym for “hero”
Remembering Michele Alboreto: F1 ace, Le Mans winner and a good man
Formula 1
Formula 1
Remembering Michele Alboreto: F1 ace, Le Mans winner and a good man
IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
IMSA
IMSA
Laguna Seca
IMSA Laguna Seca: Ganassi Cadillac holds off Porsche for victory
Latest news
Cetilar unveils blue Ferrari 499P ahead of Hypercar debut
Asian Le Mans
AsLM Asian Le Mans 1 h
Cetilar unveils blue Ferrari 499P ahead of Hypercar debut
2026 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Malaysian GP
2 h
2026 MotoGP Malaysian Grand Prix – How to watch, session times & more
"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
Mexican GP
3 h
"Two steps forward, one step back" – Oscar Piastri explains the route out of McLaren's car woes
Denny Hamlin proud of season despite another likely missed title
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Martinsville II
4 h
Denny Hamlin proud of season despite another likely missed title
Feature
Discover prime content
How Spanish engineering and Alex Palou brought IndyCar to Barcelona
Feature
IndyCar
Feature
IndyCar 7 h
By Joey Barnes
How Spanish engineering and Alex Palou brought IndyCar to Barcelona
Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game
Feature
IndyCar
Feature
IndyCar
By Joey Barnes
Inside AJ Foyt Racing’s transition: Hauger’s arrival, Ferrucci’s future, and the Pierson waiting game
You Ask The Questions: David Malukas
IndyCar
By Joey Barnes
You Ask The Questions: David Malukas
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe