Texas IndyCar: Simon Pagenaud leads Penske one-two in practice
Simon Pagenaud led a Penske one-two in practice for Saturday night's IndyCar race at Texas Motor Speedway
The Frenchman went to the top in the closing minutes with a fastest lap of 216.172mph, narrowly edging out team-mate Will Power's 216.126mph.
Takuma Sato was the only other driver to make it into the 216mph range, putting Honda on the board at third-fastest with a 216.078mph lap for AJ Foyt Racing.
Ganassi's Tony Kanaan and Scott Dixon, who led the early part of the session, finished up fourth and fifth-fastest respectively, while further back, Coyne stand-in driver Tristan Vautier made a strong start to end the morning in eighth.
A mostly uneventful session was punctuated by just one major incident, which came at around the halfway mark when Ryan Hunter-Reay's car suddenly snapped out in Turn 2.
It skated up the banking and slammed the wall side-on before skidding back down and coming to a rest rear-first against the inside barrier.
Hunter-Reay was checked and swiftly released from the infield medical centre, although the Andretti team faces a scramble to get his car repaired in time for qualifying later on Friday.
PRACTICE RESULTS:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.2307s | - | 216.172 |
| 2 | Will Power | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.2359s | 0.0052s | 216.126 |
| 3 | Takuma Sato | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Honda | 24.2413s | 0.0106s | 216.078 |
| 4 | Tony Kanaan | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.2854s | 0.0547s | 215.685 |
| 5 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.3273s | 0.0966s | 215.314 |
| 6 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.3317s | 0.1010s | 215.275 |
| 7 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan | Dallara/Honda | 24.3436s | 0.1129s | 215.169 |
| 8 | Tristan Vautier | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 24.3766s | 0.1459s | 214.878 |
| 9 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 24.3787s | 0.1480s | 214.860 |
| 10 | Carlos Munoz | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 24.3993s | 0.1686s | 214.678 |
| 11 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 24.4572s | 0.2265s | 214.170 |
| 12 | Charlie Kimball | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.4658s | 0.2351s | 214.095 |
| 13 | Sage Karam | Chip Ganassi Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.5348s | 0.3041s | 213.493 |
| 14 | James Jakes | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 24.5402s | 0.3095s | 213.446 |
| 15 | Sebastien Bourdais | KVSH Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.5482s | 0.3175s | 213.376 |
| 16 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Team Penske | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.5532s | 0.3225s | 213.333 |
| 17 | Ryan Briscoe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | Dallara/Honda | 24.5616s | 0.3309s | 213.260 |
| 18 | Pippa Mann | Dale Coyne Racing | Dallara/Honda | 24.7037s | 0.4730s | 212.033 |
| 19 | Jack Hawksworth | AJ Foyt Enterprises | Dallara/Honda | 24.7103s | 0.4796s | 211.976 |
| 20 | Stefano Coletti | KV Racing Technology | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.7499s | 0.5192s | 211.637 |
| 21 | Gabby Chaves | Bryan Herta Autosport | Dallara/Honda | 24.8274s | 0.5967s | 210.977 |
| 22 | Ed Carpenter | CFH Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.8581s | 0.6274s | 210.716 |
| 23 | Josef Newgarden | CFH Racing | Dallara/Chevrolet | 24.8599s | 0.6292s | 210.701 |
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