Sonoma IndyCar: Marco Andretti sets pace in final free practice

Andretti's quickest time of 1m16.3052s was enough to finish the 45-minute session fastest by 0.0704s from Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who was the best of the Chevrolet contingent.

Ryan Hunter-Reay underlined the improved pace of the Andretti quartet in third place, ahead of championship contender Will Power.

Carlos Munoz, points leader Simon Pagenaud and Alexander Rossi completed the top seven.

Josef Newgarden lost grip at the exit of Turn 2 halfway through the practice and careered nose-first into the tyres, but only appeared to suffer front wing damage.

The Ed Carpenter Racing driver ended the session 16th.

James Hinchcliffe caused a late red flag when a moment at the exit of the hairpin leading onto the start/finish straight led to him slamming into the wall.

Conor Daly returned to the track after an engine problem curtailed his running during yesterday's second practice session, but finished the afternoon 22nd.

PRACTICE THREE TIMES

Pos	Driver	Team	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Dallara/Honda	1m16.3052s	-	9
2	Juan Pablo Montoya	Team Penske	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m16.3756s	0.0704s	8
3	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Dallara/Honda	1m16.4339s	0.1287s	12
4	Will Power	Team Penske	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m16.4396s	0.1344s	11
5	Carlos Munoz	Andretti Autosport	Dallara/Honda	1m16.4418s	0.1366s	19
6	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m16.4557s	0.1505s	15
7	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Herta	Dallara/Honda	1m16.4685s	0.1633s	10
8	Jack Hawksworth	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Dallara/Honda	1m16.4808s	0.1756s	10
9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m16.6003s	0.2951s	13
10	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m16.6253s	0.3201s	12
11	Helio Castroneves	Team Penske	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m16.7132s	0.4080s	14
12	Takuma Sato	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Dallara/Honda	1m16.7187s	0.4135s	11
13	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	Dallara/Honda	1m16.7245s	0.4193s	14
14	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m16.7355s	0.4303s	13
15	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Dallara/Honda	1m16.7880s	0.4828s	10
16	Josef Newgarden	Ed Carpenter Racing	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m16.8624s	0.5572s	6
17	Mikhail Aleshin	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Dallara/Honda	1m16.8815s	0.5763s	14
18	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m17.0086s	0.7034s	11
19	R.C. Enerson	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara/Honda	1m17.0294s	0.7242s	19
20	Sebastien Bourdais	KVSH Racing	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m17.0444s	0.7392s	12
21	Max Chilton	Chip Ganassi Racing	Dallara/Chevrolet	1m17.0486s	0.7434s	12
22	Conor Daly	Dale Coyne Racing	Dallara/Honda	1m17.0721s	0.7669s	12