St Petersburg IndyCar: Penske's Simon Pagenaud tops first practice

A long red flag period was required when Power slammed into the wall on the exit of the Turn 9 left-hander, destroying much of his Dallara-Chevrolet's right-hand side.

Power, who got out of the car unaided after a brief pause, confessed to having been adjusting his brake bias when he lost control with just under half an hour of the 75-minute Friday morning session to go.

That left Power only 17th on the timesheets, but the rest of the Penske trio was in the top 10 - with Pagenaud leading the way, Helio Castroneves third and Juan Pablo Montoya eighth.

AJ Foyt Racing was the other team looking strong, heading the Honda contingent with Jack Hawksworth second and Takuma Sato fourth.

Hawksworth's early 1m01.7870s lap proved unbeatable for most of the morning. Only Pagenaud's 1m01.7246s nine minutes from the end denied the Briton the top spot.

Ryan Hunter-Reay completed the top five and was Andretti Autosport's top representative.

Reigning champion Scott Dixon was sixth, ahead of Ganassi team-mate Tony Kanaan.

The strong rookie pack started the year towards the back of the field.

Alexander Rossi was the fastest of them in 18th for Andretti, just in front of Indy Lights champion Spencer Pigot in Rahal Letterman Lanigan's additional entry.

Rossi's fellow ex-Manor Formula 1 racer Max Chilton brought up the rear in his first official session as a Ganassi IndyCar driver.

Autosport Race Centre Live will bring you full coverage of the season opener from 4:45pm UK time this Sunday.

PRACTICE RESULTS: