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.
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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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