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IndyCar spring training test: Alexander Rossi ends Colton Herta's run

Andretti Autosport driver Alexander Rossi finally loosened the stranglehold that Colton Herta's Harding Steinbrenner Dallara-Honda had over IndyCar's 'Spring Training' test at Austin in the final session

With his last flyer of the day, 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner and '18 IndyCar runner-up Rossi set his best lap of the whole test - emerging less than 0.15 seconds clear of Herta, who was a similar distance ahead of Rossi's team-mate Ryan Hunter-Reay.

The two Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara-Hondas of rookie Felix Rosenqvist and Scott Dixon were split by Graham Rahal's Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda in fourth through sixth, while Team Penske's 2016 champion Simon Pagenaud was fastest Chevrolet driver on the day in seventh.

Herta had initially deposed James Hinchcliffe from the top of the timesheets just under an hour into the afternoon, only for Rosenqvist to beat him by half a second minutes later.

Rosenqvist stayed on top until Herta laid down a 1m47.4015s - 0.35s faster than the Ganassi driver's benchmark - with 70 minutes remaining.

On the following lap Herta improved to a 1m47.0694s - apparently the only driver able to make his second flying lap faster than his first on the tyre-punishing track.

But he was denied a clean sweep of the four-session test when Rossi hit the top spot with a 1m46.8535s late on.

Herta closed Rossi's advantage to 0.1466s but was caught in traffic, although his session two time from Tuesday afternoon remained the fastest lap of the test.

Formula 1 convert Marcus Ericsson had challenged his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team-mate Hinchcliffe for first position early on, before spinning and making light contact with the barrier at Turn 2.

Will Power and Jack Harvey also spun later and caused red flags.

Afternoon times

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m46.8535s - 31
2 Colton Herta Harding Racing Dallara/Honda 1m47.0001s 0.1466s 39
3 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m47.1757s 0.3222s 35
4 Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m47.2941s 0.4406s 44
5 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m47.3662s 0.5127s 39
6 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m47.3684s 0.5149s 30
7 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m47.4691s 0.6156s 31
8 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m47.5379s 0.6844s 46
9 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m47.5970s 0.7435s 29
10 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m47.6625s 0.8090s 56
11 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m47.6666s 0.8131s 43
12 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m47.7183s 0.8648s 36
13 Marcus Ericsson Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m47.7958s 0.9423s 49
14 R.C. Enerson Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m47.9094s 1.0559s 38
15 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 1m47.9993s 1.1458s 36
16 Matheus Leist AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m48.1485s 1.2950s 31
17 Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Dallara/Honda 1m48.1698s 1.3163s 20
18 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m48.1888s 1.3353s 36
19 Ed Jones Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m48.1955s 1.3420s 28
20 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m48.1973s 1.3438s 42
21 Max Chilton Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m48.3640s 1.5105s 33
22 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m48.4177s 1.5642s 22
23 Tony Kanaan AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m48.5553s 1.7018s 20
24 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m48.6249s 1.7714s 35
25 Kyle Kaiser Juncos Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m48.8496s 1.9961s 31


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