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Detroit IndyCar: Rossi leads practice, Pagenaud causes red flag

Alexander Rossi topped Friday IndyCar practice in Detroit, but Indianapolis 500 winner Simon Pagenaud halted the afternoon session by smacking a wall

The red flag for that incident prevented most of Rossi's rivals setting a representative time on the alternate compound tires.

Rossi's Andretti Autosport Dallara-Honda had jumped half a second clear of the first frontrunner to set a strong time on alternate compounds, Josef Newgarden of Team Penske, when Newgarden's team-mate Pagenaud struck a wall with his left-rear tyre and ground to a halt on track with a broken toelink.

Rossi's 1m15.1367s lap therefore remained top, 0.5274 seconds clear of Newgarden, with Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing and Will Power of Penske the only other drivers to break the 1m16s barrier.

Graham Rahal, a double 2017 winner in Detroit, was fifth ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay in a second Andretti car, with Spencer Pigot, James Hinchcliffe, Pagenaud and Ed Jones completing the top 10.

Hinchcliffe's Arrow SPM team-mate Marcus Ericsson was quickest of the rookies in 11th.

Dixon had been fastest by a daunting margin in opening practice in the morning, lapping in 1m16.7418s on a very 'green' track surface.

Power was left 0.3464s adrift in second place, as he proved the busiest driver of the session, racking up 20 laps - his last being his best.

He was just 0.0178s clear of Hunter-Reay in third, with Newgarden, Rahal and quickest rookie Colton Herta completing the top six.

The only stoppage in the morning was caused by Sebastien Bourdais outbraking himself at Turn 7 and stalling his Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Dallara-Honda down the run-off area.

Practice one times

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m16.7418s - 13
2 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m17.0882s 0.3464s 20
3 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m17.1060s 0.3642s 14
4 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m17.1981s 0.4563s 17
5 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m17.2201s 0.4783s 15
6 Colton Herta Harding Racing Dallara/Honda 1m17.2252s 0.4834s 20
7 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m17.4667s 0.7249s 16
8 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m17.5080s 0.7662s 16
9 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m17.6079s 0.8661s 14
10 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m17.6555s 0.9137s 11
11 Patricio O'Ward Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m17.6790s 0.9372s 16
12 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m17.7087s 0.9669s 15
13 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m17.8645s 1.1227s 11
14 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 1m17.8788s 1.1370s 15
15 Max Chilton Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m17.9434s 1.2016s 12
16 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m18.2704s 1.5286s 11
17 Tony Kanaan AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m18.4970s 1.7552s 16
18 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m18.6083s 1.8665s 19
19 Marcus Ericsson Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m18.6412s 1.8994s 17
20 Ed Jones Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m18.6861s 1.9443s 15
21 Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m18.6868s 1.9450s 20
22 Matheus Leist AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m19.1186s 2.3768s 13

Practice two times

Pos Driver Team Car Time Gap Laps
1 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m15.1367s - 14
2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m15.6641s 0.5274s 13
3 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m15.7824s 0.6457s 16
4 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m15.8713s 0.7346s 17
5 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m16.0757s 0.9390s 14
6 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m16.1964s 1.0597s 11
7 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m16.2154s 1.0787s 16
8 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m16.2551s 1.1184s 14
9 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m16.2923s 1.1556s 16
10 Ed Jones Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1m16.3039s 1.1672s 17
11 Marcus Ericsson Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m16.3759s 1.2392s 12
12 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m16.5364s 1.3997s 15
13 Colton Herta Harding Racing Dallara/Honda 1m16.5965s 1.4598s 11
14 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m16.7427s 1.6060s 13
15 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1m16.7481s 1.6114s 13
16 Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 1m16.8272s 1.6905s 24
17 Patricio O'Ward Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m16.8539s 1.7172s 12
18 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1m17.1845s 2.0478s 16
19 Max Chilton Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m17.1998s 2.0631s 12
20 Matheus Leist AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m17.2856s 2.1489s 14
21 Tony Kanaan AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m17.3131s 2.1764s 13
22 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 1m17.3325s 2.1958s 13

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