Will Power tops opening IndyCar practice at Barber
Will Power set the fastest time in the opening IndyCar practice session at Barber Motorsports Park
Light rain fell as the session was ending, but it had little impact on the final standings. The Penske driver went to the top of the screens just after the hour-long session passed its half-way mark with a 1m11.2886s lap of the Alabama circuit, putting him 0.2s clear of team-mate Helio Castroneves.
Takuma Sato repeated his encouraging pace from St Petersburg by setting the third-fastest time in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan entry, just beating Sarah Fisher Hartman rookie Josef Newgarden, who had been the pacesetter for the opening half hour.
Rubens Barrichello was fifth quickest as he continued to adapt to his new surroundings after 19 years in Formula 1, putting him just ahead of Andretti Autosport's Marco Andretti and the Brazilian's KV Racing team-mate Tony Kanaan.
Simon Pagenaud (Schmidt-Hamilton), Dario Franchitti (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Graham Rahal (Chip Ganassi Racing) rounded out the top 10.
Sebastien Bourdais was again the best of the Lotus-powered entries; the four-time Champ Car champion finishing up 16th-fastest with Dragon Racing.
Dale Coyne Racing's Justin Wilson's start to the weekend was interrupted when a small fire ignited in the engine area of his car after the Brit had completed just three laps.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Will Power Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1m11.2886s 2. Helio Castroneves Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1m11.5010s + 0.2124s 3. Takuma Sato Rahal DW12-Honda 1m11.5608s + 0.2722s 4. Josef Newgarden Fisher DW12-Honda 1m11.5884s + 0.2998s 5. Rubens Barrichello KV DW12-Chevrolet 1m11.6028s + 0.3142s 6. Marco Andretti Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1m11.6263s + 0.3377s 7. Tony Kanaan KV DW12-Chevrolet 1m11.6800s + 0.3914s 8. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt DW12-Honda 1m11.7015s + 0.4129s 9. Dario Franchitti Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m11.7415s + 0.4529s 10. Graham Rahal Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m11.9529s + 0.6643s 11. James Hinchcliffe Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1m12.0320s + 0.7434s 12. JR Hildebrand Panther DW12-Chevrolet 1m12.0564s + 0.7678s 13. Scott Dixon Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m12.0826s + 0.7940s 14. Mike Conway Foyt DW12-Honda 1m12.1934s + 0.9048s 15. Ryan Briscoe Penske DW12-Chevrolet 1m12.2151s + 0.9265s 16. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m12.4818s + 1.1932s 17. James Jakes Coyne DW12-Honda 1m12.5018s + 1.2132s 18. EJ Viso KV DW12-Chevrolet 1m12.5042s + 1.2156s 19. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti DW12-Chevrolet 1m12.6237s + 1.3351s 20. Simona de Silvestro HVM DW12-Lotus 1m12.7388s + 1.4502s 21. Charlie Kimball Ganassi DW12-Honda 1m13.0897s + 1.8011s 22. Alex Tagliani BHA DW12-Lotus 1m13.4746s + 2.1860s 23. Oriol Servia Dreyer & Reinbold DW12-Lotus 1m13.4960s + 2.2074s 24. Justin Wilson Coyne DW12-Honda 1m13.9034s + 2.6148s 25. Ed Carpenter Carpenter DW12-Chevrolet 1m14.5717s + 3.2831s 26. Katherine Legge Dragon DW12-Lotus 1m16.3147s + 5.0261s
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