St Petersburg IndyCar: Penske driver Power fastest in practice two

Penske repaired Power's Dallara-Chevrolet following his hefty impact on the exit of Turn 9 in practice one, and he grabbed the top spot in the final minute of the day's second session.

The afternoon practice had been due to run for an hour and a quarter, but was halted for 40 minutes early on so track repairs could be carried out after the surface began to break up on a bump after Turn 3.

With a packed support programme, the restarted session was truncated, giving teams and drivers around 50 minutes of actual running in the end.

There were multiple changes of first position when practice resumed, before reigning champion Scott Dixon appeared to have settled himself at the head of the order.

But the Ganassi driver's 1m00.9573s lap was usurped by a 1m00.9431s from Power with just seconds left on the clock.

Morning pacesetter Simon Pagenaud ended up third, followed by 2015 title contender Graham Rahal in the fastest of the Hondas.

AJ Foyt Racing repeated its strong practice one form, with Takuma Sato and Jack Hawksworth sandwiching post-injury returnee James Hinchcliffe and Carlos Munoz in fifth and eighth.

Hawksworth again had a couple of spells setting the pace, and was leading the session when it was red-flagged.

Penske pair Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya completed the top 10.

After a quiet morning, former Manor Formula 1 driver Alexander Rossi got in the top three for a while. He later caused a red flag by sliding down an escape road, and slipped back to 13th.

Having been slowest in practice one, Rossi's fellow F1 convert Max Chilton improved to 18th in the 22-car field, just 0.7697s off the pace as less than a second covered the top 20.

Autosport Race Centre Live will bring you full coverage of the season opener from 4:45pm UK time this Sunday.

PRACTICE TWO RESULTS: