Watkins Glen IndyCar: Dixon back on top in third practice
Scott Dixon’s Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda topped the practice times on Saturday morning at Watkins Glen as HPD-powered cars swept the top three places.
Photo by: Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images
Dixon lapped the course in 1min22.6441sec, an average of 146.798mph on his final lap, a time that Andretti Autosport-Honda’s Alexander Rossi missed beating by just 0.0220sec.
The 2016 Indy 500 champion beat his fellow Indy-winning teammate into third by an impressive 0.4sec, with Helio Castroneves fastest of the Chevrolet runners in fourth for Team Penske.
Sebastien Bourdais ended his session with a spin in the Dale Coyne Racing-Honda, but as he prepared for his first roadcourse race since the GP of Indy in mid-May, the Frenchman was fifth, a commendable bounce-back from yesterday when he described himself as “lost”.
Sixth was a third Andretti car, that of Takuma Sato, ahead of the man near-certain to be his teammate next season, Graham Rahal.
Penske’s championship leader Josef Newgarden was eighth, with one of his principal rivals, teammate Simon Pagenaud in ninth.
James Hinchcliffe was seen gesticulating to several driver over the course of the 45-minute session as he struggled to find a clear lap, and he finished the session just 17th, two places and 0.2sec ahead of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda teammate Jack Harvey, who is preparing for his first roadcourse IndyCar race.
Watkins Glen, IndyCar FP3
Cla | # | Driver | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 13 | 1'22.6441 | 146.798 | ||
2 | 98 | Alexander Rossi | 18 | 1'22.6661 | 0.0220 | 0.0220 | 146.759 |
3 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 13 | 1'23.0597 | 0.4156 | 0.3936 | 146.064 |
4 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | 16 | 1'23.2320 | 0.5879 | 0.1723 | 145.761 |
5 | 18 | Sébastien Bourdais | 14 | 1'23.2406 | 0.5965 | 0.0086 | 145.746 |
6 | 26 | Takuma Sato | 15 | 1'23.3391 | 0.6950 | 0.0985 | 145.574 |
7 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 18 | 1'23.3599 | 0.7158 | 0.0208 | 145.538 |
8 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 19 | 1'23.3926 | 0.7485 | 0.0327 | 145.481 |
9 | 1 | Simon Pagenaud | 16 | 1'23.4506 | 0.8065 | 0.0580 | 145.379 |
10 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | 18 | 1'23.4600 | 0.8159 | 0.0094 | 145.363 |
11 | 4 | Conor Daly | 19 | 1'23.6885 | 1.0444 | 0.2285 | 144.966 |
12 | 10 | Tony Kanaan | 16 | 1'23.7711 | 1.1270 | 0.0826 | 144.823 |
13 | 27 | Marco Andretti | 18 | 1'23.7857 | 1.1416 | 0.0146 | 144.798 |
14 | 20 | Spencer Pigot | 14 | 1'23.8645 | 1.2204 | 0.0788 | 144.662 |
15 | 14 | Carlos Munoz | 15 | 1'23.9718 | 1.3277 | 0.1073 | 144.477 |
16 | 12 | Will Power | 15 | 1'24.0187 | 1.3746 | 0.0469 | 144.396 |
17 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | 16 | 1'24.1540 | 1.5099 | 0.1353 | 144.164 |
18 | 19 | Ed Jones | 19 | 1'24.3312 | 1.6871 | 0.1772 | 143.861 |
19 | 7 | Jack Harvey | 18 | 1'24.3518 | 1.7077 | 0.0206 | 143.826 |
20 | 8 | Max Chilton | 17 | 1'24.7749 | 2.1308 | 0.4231 | 143.108 |
21 | 21 | J.R. Hildebrand | 18 | 1'24.8130 | 2.1689 | 0.0381 | 143.044 |
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