Milwaukee IndyCar: Josef Newgarden heads first practice session

The CFH driver shot to P1 in the closing minutes with a fastest lap of 21.5415 seconds 169.628mph to beat the previous benchmark of 21,5692s and 168.777mph set by Takuma Sato, who himself had only assumed the role of leader after Tony Kanaan had dug himself in at the top for most of the session.

While Kanaan's 167.702mph lap remained unbeaten for more than an hour, the Brazilian was unable to improve on it as the session progressed and he finished the afternoon fifth-fastest.

Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud made a late jump to finish up in P2 on a day where his team-mates found themselves 10th (Will Power), 11th (Helio Castroneves) and 15th (Juan Pablo Montoya).

Aside from two brief spells under yellows for debris the session passed mostly without incident, and all teams managed to complete a solid amount of running. KV rookie Stefano Coletti topped the lap count at 98.

In an innovative schedule, both qualifying and the race take place on Sunday this weekend, with a three-hour gap between them.

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