Fontana IndyCar: Will Power tops opening session for Penske
Will Power opened this weekend's IndyCar season finale at Fontana by setting the fastest time in the first practice session
Penske driver Power set the 220.889mph benchmark right at the beginning of the 90-minute session and it held right through to the end.
KV's Tony Kanaan came closest to matching it, but the Indianapolis 500 winner's best effort was still 1mph shy of the Australian's time.
James Hinchcliffe and AJ Allmendinger were third and fourth-fastest, the latter having been entered in a third Penske car for the weekend to assist with Helio Castroneves' title bid. The Brazilian finished the morning with the fifth-best time, putting him one place ahead of championship rival Scott Dixon.
The session was red-flagged twice following heavy accidents at Turn 4.
Pippa Mann, who takes over the second Dale Coyne Racing entry this weekend, caught a seam and crashed heavily into the wall on her seventh lap; her badly damaged car eventually spinning to a stop on the track's apron.
Later, Takuma Sato did almost exactly the same thing, and with more or less identical results. Both drivers were checked and cleared by IndyCar's medical team.
Meanwhile, Carlos Munoz was confirmed as the stand-in for EJ Viso in Andretti Autosport's #5 car. The Venezuelan withdrew from the race last night citing an illness. Munoz was 24th fastest.
Pos Driver Team/Engine Time Gap Speed 1. Will Power Penske/Chevy 32.596s 220.889 2. Tony Kanaan KV/Chevy 32.758s +0.162s 219.796 3. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Chevy 32.805s +0.209s 219.479 4. AJ Allmendinger Penske/Chevy 32.870s +0.275s 219.045 5. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 32.937s +0.341s 218.601 6. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Honda 32.953s +0.357s 218.495 7. Marco Andretti Andretti/Chevy 32.955s +0.359s 218.483 8. Oriol Servia Panther/Chevy 32.963s +0.368s 218.426 9. James Jakes Rahal/Honda 33.038s +0.443s 217.930 10. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Chevy 33.060s +0.465s 217.786 11. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 33.085s +0.489s 217.622 12. Alex Tagliani Ganassi/Honda 33.104s +0.509s 217.495 13. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 33.129s +0.533s 217.335 14. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 33.153s +0.557s 217.176 15. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 33.168s +0.572s 217.079 16. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon/Chevy 33.218s +0.623s 216.749 17. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Honda 33.271s +0.676s 216.402 18. Simona de Silvestro KV/Chevy 33.348s +0.753s 215.905 19. Tristan Vautier Schmidt/Honda 33.353s +0.757s 215.875 20. Ed Carpenter Carpenter/Chevy 33.354s +0.758s 215.867 21. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 33.355s +0.760s 215.859 22. Pippa Mann Coyne/Honda 33.439s +0.843s 215.318 23. JR Hildebrand Herta/Honda 33.457s +0.861s 215.204 24. Carlos Munoz Andretti/Chevy 33.511s +0.916s 214.853 25 Sebastia Saavedra Dragon/Chevy 33.610s +1.014s 214.224 All drivers use Dallara DW12 chassis
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