Local star James Hinchcliffe stars in first Edmonton IndyCar practice
Local favourite James Hinchcliffe was quickest in the opening free practice session at the new-style Edmonton circuit
The Canadian airport track has been substantially revised over the winter, but the IndyCar field did not get any chance to try it on Friday as heavy rain left the circuit flooded.
That led to a compacted schedule with two practice sessions and qualifying fitted into Saturday.
With the track still not absolutely dry and gaining grip, times tumbled and positions were repeatedly exchanged throughout this morning's 45-minute session.
Going into the closing moments, championship leader Dario Franchitti and his team-mate Scott Dixon had looked set for a Ganassi one-two.
But then Newman/Haas' rookie Hinchcliffe, who had started the day by causing a yellow when he spun and stalled, jumped to the top on his final lap with a 1m19.9036s.
That put him 0.0986 seconds ahead of Franchitti, with Will Power taking third for Penske and pushing Dixon down to fourth.
The other Penske entries of Ryan Briscoe and Helio Castroneves were fifth and eighth, split by KV's EJ Viso and Dreyer & Reinbold's Justin Wilson. Tony Kanaan (KV) and the impressive Vitor Meira (AJ Foyt) completed the top 10.
Pos Driver Team Time Gap 1. James Hinchcliffe Newman/Haas 1m19.9036s 2. Dario Franchitti Ganassi 1m20.0022s + 0.0986s 3. Will Power Penske 1m20.0186s + 0.1150s 4. Scott Dixon Ganassi 1m20.0362s + 0.1326s 5. Ryan Briscoe Penske 1m20.0489s + 0.1453s 6. EJ Viso KV 1m20.0915s + 0.1879s 7. Justin Wilson Dreyer & Reinbold 1m20.1213s + 0.2177s 8. Helio Castroneves Penske 1m20.1293s + 0.2257s 9. Tony Kanaan KV 1m20.2532s + 0.3496s 10. Vitor Meira Foyt 1m20.2837s + 0.3801s 11. Graham Rahal Ganassi 1m20.2857s + 0.3821s 12. Takuma Sato KV 1m20.2867s + 0.3831s 13. Oriol Servia Newman/Haas 1m20.3667s + 0.4631s 14. JR Hildebrand Panther 1m20.3686s + 0.4650s 15. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti 1m20.3973s + 0.4937s 16. Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne 1m20.5368s + 0.6332s 17. Alex Tagliani Sam Schmidt 1m20.5617s + 0.6581s 18. Mike Conway Andretti 1m20.6309s + 0.7273s 19. Marco Andretti Andretti 1m21.0095s + 1.1059s 20. Danica Patrick Andretti 1m21.2531s + 1.3495s 21. Charlie Kimball Ganassi 1m21.3225s + 1.4189s 22. Sebastian Saavedra Conquest 1m21.4138s + 1.5102s 23. Paul Tracy Dragon 1m21.6754s + 1.7718s 24. James Jakes Dale Coyne 1m21.7173s + 1.8137s 25. Ana Beatriz Dreyer & Reinbold 1m22.1572s + 2.2536s 26. Simona de Silvestro HVM 1m22.1910s + 2.2874s
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