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St Petersburg IndyCar: Will Power tops Penske top three in practice

Will Power began his IndyCar championship defence by topping a Penske sweep of the leading times in the first practice session for the season-opener in St Petersburg

On a morning dominated by Chevrolet-powered cars, Power secured the top spot with a 1m04.4709s in the final minutes of the session.

He shaved 0.4 seconds off Takuma Sato's pole time from last year in the process: the first real hint of the performance upgrades of the new manufacturer aero kits.

Is IndyCar out of the wilderness?

Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves rounded out a Penske 1-2-3 ahead of Ganassi's Scott Dixon and KV's Sebastien Bourdais, with new AJ Foyt Racing arrival Jack Hawksworth earning the fastest Honda honours in sixth, albeit 0.4s down on Power's time.

Quickest of the rookies was GP2 veteran Stefano Coletti, who ended the session in 16th place for KV.

The Monegasque was also responsible for the first red flag when he had a harmless spin, while a later stoppage was caused by debris.

Follow the 2015 IndyCar season-opener as it happens with AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live from 8pm UK time on Sunday March 29

PRACTICE ONE TIMES:

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap
1 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.4709s -
2 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.6996s 0.2287s
3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.7000s 0.2291s
4 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.7777s 0.3068s
5 Sebastien Bourdais KVSH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.8439s 0.3730s
6 Jack Hawksworth AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 1m01.8713s 0.4004s
7 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m01.9536s 0.4827s
8 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m01.9971s 0.5262s
9 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m02.0188s 0.5479s
10 Josef Newgarden CFH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m02.0613s 0.5904s
11 Luca Filippi CFH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m02.0771s 0.6062s
12 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 1m02.1274s 0.6565s
13 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m02.1850s 0.7141s
14 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m02.2293s 0.7584s
15 Simona de Silvestro Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m02.2805s 0.8096s
16 Stefano Coletti KV Racing Technology Dallara/Chevrolet 1m02.3149s 0.8440s
17 Sage Karam Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m02.3400s 0.8691s
18 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m02.4372s 0.9663s
19 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m02.4502s 0.9793s
20 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m02.6453s 1.1744s
21 Carlos Huertas Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m02.6747s 1.2038s
22 James Jakes Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m02.7198s 1.2489s
23 Gabby Chaves Bryan Herta Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m02.8613s 1.3904s
24 Francesco Dracone Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m05.0129s 3.5420s


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