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Pocono IndyCar: Mikhail Aleshin fastest in crash-filled practice

Mikhail Aleshin weathered a stop-start IndyCar practice session at Pocono to top the timesheets for Schmidt-Peterson Motorsports in a Honda-dominated start to the event

The Russian driver was the first in only a handful of drivers to set a 40-second lap with a 40.5530s time, equating to 221.932mph.

He set the lap in the first 15 minutes of the 100-minute practice (extended by 10 minutes accounting for a number of yellow flags), and managed to hold his lead throughout.

Despite the Chevrolet dominance so far this year, it was the Honda runners that set the pace, with James Hinchcliffe completing the session 0.3s adrift of team-mate Aleshin in second.

A late lap from Josef Newgarden left him as the highest Chevy in third, ahead of the Honda-powered Andretti pair of Alexander Rossi and Carlos Munoz.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was the first man to prove why Pocono is nicknamed the 'Tricky Triangle' after losing the rear of his Andretti Dallara-Honda and collecting the wall.

Yellow flags were waved again with an hour to go to allow marshals to inspect the track, before a lengthy caution came as a result of Charlie Kimball hitting the outside wall at Turn 1.

Juan Pablo Montoya completed the disrupted affair by making contact with the Turn 2 wall in the last five minutes.

All three drivers were unhurt but their crews face substantial work to repair the cars for qualifying, which starts less than three hours after the end of practice.

Montoya's Penske team-mates had a largely anonymous session. Championship leader Simon Pagenaud only managed 14th, while Will Power's best effort was only good enough for sixth, despite clocking in the most laps of anyone.

PRACTICE TIMES

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 40.5530s - 27
2 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 40.8553s 0.3023s 36
3 Josef Newgarden Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 40.8794s 0.3264s 33
4 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 40.9227s 0.3697s 26
5 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 40.9240s 0.3710s 24
6 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 41.0186s 0.4656s 49
7 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 41.1427s 0.5897s 25
8 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 41.1669s 0.6139s 30
9 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 41.1725s 0.6195s 39
10 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 41.2109s 0.6579s 25
11 Jack Hawksworth AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 41.2167s 0.6637s 28
12 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 41.2954s 0.7424s 25
13 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 41.2973s 0.7443s 5
14 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 41.3167s 0.7637s 35
15 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 41.3228s 0.7698s 29
16 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 41.3746s 0.8216s 26
17 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 41.3762s 0.8232s 31
18 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 41.4907s 0.9377s 30
19 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 41.5382s 0.9852s 37
20 Sebastien Bourdais KVSH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 41.5446s 0.9916s 32
21 Conor Daly Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 42.1618s 1.6088s 37
22 Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 42.7145s 2.1615s 37


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