Long Beach IndyCar: James Hinchcliffe tops first practice session
James Hinchcliffe opened this weekend's IndyCar event at Long Beach by setting the fastest time in the first practice session
Hinchcliffe went to the top with a 1m09.8110s lap with nine minutes of the 45-minute session remaining, and his time remained unbeaten.
Helio Castroneves, who set his best time just moments after the Canadian driver, came closest, although his effort was still 0.1795s shy.
Prior to Hinchcliffe entering the picture, the pacesetter during the middle phase of the session was Josef Newgarden.
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His participation was cut short when he understeered into the Turn 8 barriers, prompting a 10-minute stoppage, but his lap time was still good enough to remain fifth-fastest behind Justin Wilson and Ryan Hunter-Reay at the chequered flag.
Jack Hawksworth continued his encouraging start to his IndyCar career by posting the seventh-best time to put himself just behind Will Power, while Juan Pablo Montoya was comfortably inside the top 10 for much of the session before being shuffled back to 15th towards the end.
Oriol Servia, making his first appearance of the season in the second Rahal Letterman Lanigan entry, finished up in 16th place.
Pos Driver Team/Engine Time Gap Laps 1. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Honda 1m09.8110s 17 2. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 1m09.9905s +0.1795s 14 3. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 1m10.0080s +0.1970s 12 4. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Honda 1m10.0340s +0.2230s 9 5. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 1m10.0648s +0.2538s 8 6. Will Power Penske/Chevy 1m10.1677s +0.3567s 15 7. Jack Hawksworth Herta/Honda 1m10.1970s +0.3860s 21 8. Mike Conway Carpenter/Chevy 1m10.2077s +0.3967s 18 9. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 1m10.2235s +0.4125s 11 10. Tony Kanaan Ganassi/Chevy 1m10.2343s +0.4233s 10 11. Marco Andretti Andretti/Honda 1m10.2514s +0.4404s 15 12. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 1m10.2518s +0.4408s 16 13. Sebastien Bourdais KV/Chevy 1m10.3638s +0.5528s 13 14. Juan Pablo Montoya Penske/Chevy 1m10.4651s +0.6541s 16 15. Oriol Servia Rahal/Honda 1m10.5054s +0.6944s 16 16. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Chevy 1m10.5225s +0.7115s 10 17. Sebastian Saavedra KV/Chevy 1m10.8040s +0.9930s 15 18. Graham rahal Rahal/Honda 1m10.8436s +1.0326s 17 19. Carlos Munoz Andretti/Honda 1m10.9255s +1.1145s 16 20. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi/Chevy 1m10.9501s +1.1391s 7 21. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Chevy 1m11.0411s +1.2301s 16 22. Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt/Honda 1m11.1709s +1.3599s 15 23. Carlos Huertas Coyne/Honda 1m11.3577s +1.5467s 19
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