IndyCar GP Indy: Newgarden edges VeeKay, Power in FP2
Josef Newgarden lapped the 2.439-mile Indianapolis road course in 69.3sec on Firestone’s softer compound tires to eclipse Rinus VeeKay and Will Power and grab top spot for Team Penske-Chevrolet.
With track temperatures some 30degF higher than this morning, times on the primary Firestone tires initially didn’t dip beneath 70.4sec – a 70.4346 / 124.660mph lap being set by Josef Newgarden in the #2 Team Penske-Chevrolet some 20mins into the session.
At that point, Meyer Shank Racing-Honda’s Jack Harvey was second fastest, ahead of the second Penske of Will Power, which had taken an off-course excursion at Turn 7. Others to have spins or escape-road visits included Felix Rosenqvist of Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy, Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing and Sebastien Bourdais of AJ Foyt Racing.
However Rosenqvist recovered quickly to bounce into the top three, while Colton Herta – who has re-signed with Andretti Autosport through 2023 – also made it into the Top 3.
However, he was then bumped down by teammate Rossi, and the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda of rookie Romain Grosjean who, like the improving Newgarden, got into the 70.2sec zone.
Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s rookie Jimmie Johnson had been the first driver out on the Firestone ‘red’ alternate compound, but AJ Foyt Racing’s Dalton Kellett sprung to the top on his soft tires with 15mins left to run.
Then the leading runners put on the reds, and Will Power ducked down to 69.4999sec / 126.337mph to go top, ahead of Harvey and Herta. Remarkably, when Herta improved still further he matched Power’s time to the 10,000th of a second.
Then VeeKay, who took his first pole here at the Harvest GP last fall, edged them both by 0.0979 to go fastest for Carpenter, before Newgarden dug deep trimmed a further 0.07sec off the top time, lapping in 69.3323sec. Power tried again but came up 0.14sec short to remain third despite lightly grazing the wall at the entry of Turn 1.
Herta wound up fourth, half a tenth clear of Scott McLaughlin, Penske’s star rookie who nudged Harvey down by 0.06sec.
Grosjean’s best effort remained good enough to edge compatriot Simon Pagenaud in the fourth Penske, while Arrow McLaren SP pair Pato O’Ward and Rosenqvist completed the Top 10.
Their temporary teammate Juan Pablo Montoya’s return to IndyCar road course action – first time since Sonoma in 2016 – continued to be troubled. He spun on his set of Firestone reds, then spun again after reverting to the primaries and finished up last.
His main 2015 title rival Scott Dixon also suffered a poor showing for Chip Ganassi Racing, ending the session in 23rd after completing just 11 laps. He suffered an apparent clutch issue when trying to pull away from his pitbox.
His teammate Alex Palou, who missed the morning session due to a water leak, got up to speed relatively swiftly on primaries, but was 13th after everyone had switched to reds.
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 20 | 1'09.332 | 126.642 | |
| 2 |  Rinus van Kalmthout | Ed Carpenter Racing | 17 | 1'09.402 | 0.069 | 126.515 |
| 3 |  Will Power | Team Penske | 21 | 1'09.474 | 0.142 | 126.383 |
| 4 | Colton Herta | Andretti Autosport | 19 | 1'09.499 | 0.167 | 126.337 |
| 5 |  Scott McLaughlin | Team Penske | 18 | 1'09.551 | 0.219 | 126.243 |
| 6 |  Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing | 17 | 1'09.619 | 0.286 | 126.121 |
| 7 |  Romain Grosjean | Dale Coyne Racing with RWR | 21 | 1'09.621 | 0.289 | 126.116 |
| 8 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | 19 | 1'09.737 | 0.405 | 125.906 |
| 9 |  Patricio O'Ward | Arrow McLaren SP | 20 | 1'09.739 | 0.407 | 125.903 |
| 10 |  Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren SP | 17 | 1'09.774 | 0.442 | 125.839 |
| 11 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 18 | 1'09.778 | 0.446 | 125.832 |
| 12 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | 18 | 1'09.784 | 0.452 | 125.821 |
| 13 |  Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi Racing | 22 | 1'09.845 | 0.513 | 125.711 |
| 14 |  Ed Jones | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan | 12 | 1'09.906 | 0.574 | 125.602 |
| 15 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter Racing | 19 | 1'09.921 | 0.589 | 125.575 |
| 16 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 21 | 1'09.972 | 0.640 | 125.484 |
| 17 |  James Hinchcliffe | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | 18 | 1'09.978 | 0.646 | 125.472 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 20 | 1'09.987 | 0.655 | 125.456 |
| 19 | Dalton Kellett | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 22 | 1'10.118 | 0.786 | 125.222 |
| 20 |  Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 19 | 1'10.135 | 0.803 | 125.192 |
| 21 | Sébastien Bourdais | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 20 | 1'10.349 | 1.017 | 124.811 |
| 22 | Charlie Kimball | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 17 | 1'10.683 | 1.351 | 124.222 |
| 23 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 11 | 1'10.777 | 1.444 | 124.057 |
| 24 | Jimmie Johnson | Chip Ganassi Racing | 16 | 1'10.975 | 1.642 | 123.711 |
| 25 |  Juan Pablo Montoya | Arrow McLaren SP | 14 | 1'11.808 | 2.475 | 122.276 |
| View full results | ||||||
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