Watkins Glen IndyCar: Scott Dixon stays on top in Friday practice

The practice one pacesetter looked to be in control throughout, despite leaving it almost 30 minutes into the two-hour session before taking to the track.

A trio of timesheet-topping times from Dixon mid-way through culminated in a 1m23.1093s, but in the dying minutes Will Power squeezed enough from his Penske Dallara-Chevrolet to go quickest by 0.0376 seconds.

Not to be outdone, Dixon came back to set the only 1m22s time of the afternoon to end the day quickest.

The mammoth two-hour practice gave the drivers plenty of opportunities to try out race runs and work on car set-up, with Helio Castroneves seemingly most comfortable with his Penske Dallara-Chevrolet's balance as he finished second, 0.1587s down on Dixon and ahead of Power in third.

Tony Kanaan showed good pace in his session for fourth, but had a minor trip off track in the closing moments - at the same time as championship leader Simon Pagenaud spun into the Turn 7 tyres.

Juan Pablo Montoya was fifth, ahead of Jack Hawksworth, who was quickest of the Honda contingent for AJ Foyt.

Texas race winner Graham Rahal, Josef Newgarden, Sebastien Bourdais and Max Chilton rounded out the top 10.

Pagenaud could only manage a time good enough for 11th, 0.8730s down on Dixon's pace.

Several drivers suffered minor faults that brought out the red flags, but all were able to sort their problems.

First Takuma Sato stopped in the first 15 minutes on the straight between Turns 7 and 8, before stopping again in the pitlane later on with a shortage of fuel. He ended the day 12th.

Newgarden suffered a cut tyre halfway through the session, believed to have been caused by debris, but was able to get back to the pits for a change to finish the day eighth.

Conor Daly recovered from his heavy shunt in first practice to take part on most of the second session and managed to end his day in 17th.

PRACTICE TWO TIMES: