Pocono IndyCar: Will Power flies in second practice
Will Power crushed Pocono's unofficial track record on his way to topping the final practice session on the 2.5 mile tri-oval ahead of qualifying later this afternoon
Power went to P1 with a 222.475mph average with his first flying lap after a restart, and improved on it next time around to finish the session with an average of 223.348mph.
The previous single-lap track record, set by Marco Andretti last year, was 221.377mph.
"[The car's] not bad," Power said. "Obviously we've got no more practice sessions so I tried to run in traffic as much as I could.
"It's going to be interesting tomorrow because we haven't had that much practice for a 500-mile race."
In the final count, Andretti's previous record would only have been good enough for 10th-fastest in this session.
Andretti Autosport's Carlos Munoz joined Power in breaking the 223mph mark with a 223.007mph average, while third-fastest Tony Kanaan managed a 222.528mph.
The restart came after Jack Hawksworth triggered a lengthy caution period with his heavy crash at Turn 1.
The Briton lost the rear on a bump and appeared to make a slight overcorrection before the back end of the car snapped and pitched him into the barrier.
He was able to climb out of the wreckage unaided, but needed some assistance in getting to the safety vehicle.
He was checked and cleared by medical staff, who determined that he had escaped with nothing worse than a banged knee, but now faces an anxious wait as the team scrambles to repair the car in time for qualifying.
"I'm very sore, but nothing's broken I don't think, so I should be alright," he said.
"It was strange. We'd just put new tyres on and went into what is probably the easiest corner of the track, and as I got down to the apex it just got super-loose and snapped and put me into the wall.
"I'm upset for the guys because it wrecked the car, but I just don't know what happened. The balance just shifted. We'll just have to try to get the car back together and see what happens. We've got a spare tub, but it's nowhere near built up."
Prior to the crash, Takuma Sato had been the session leader, although the Japanese driver was eventually shuffled back to seventh as others made late improvements.
Elsewhere, Ryan Briscoe did well to recover to eighth fastest after losing much of the session to an electrical problem.
Pos Driver Team/Engine Time Speed 1. Will Power Penske/Chevy 40.2959s 223.348s 2. Carlos Munoz Andretti/Honda 40.3574s 223.007s 3. Tony Kanaan Ganassi/Chevy 40.4444s 222.528s 4. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 40.4827s 222.317s 5. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 40.4863s 222.297s 6. Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt/Honda 40.5007s 222.218s 7. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 40.5013s 222.215s 8. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi/Chevy 40.6358s 221.48 s 9. Juan Pablo Montoya Penske/Chevy 40.6442s 221.434s 10. Marco Andretti Andretti/Honda 40.6575s 221.361s 11. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Honda 40.6576s 221.361s 12. Ed Carpenter Carpenter/Chevy 40.7573s 220.819s 13. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Chevy 40.8311s 220.420s 14. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Honda 40.8674s 220.224s 15. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 40.9692s 219.677s 16. Sebastien Bourdais KV/Chevy 40.9713s 219.666s 17. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Chevy 40.9795s 219.622s 18. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 41.0492s 219.249s 19. Jack Hawksworth Herta/Honda 41.0962s 218.998s 20. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 41.3084s 217.873s 21. Sebastian Saavedra KV/Chevy 41.3734s 217.531s 22. Carlos Huertas Coyne/Honda 41.8725s 214.938s
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