Andretti driver Marco Andretti put in the best time in first practice for the IndyCar season-opener at St. Petersburg, as Penske’s Will Power crashed.
Last year’s St. Petersburg polesitter Power brought out the red flag in the early stages after hitting the wall at Turn 10.
He had managed just three laps before losing the rear of his car and crashing. The session was stopped but Power managed to return to the pits for repairs and return to the track.
Once restarted, Andretti went quickest with a 1:03.755 and remained unchallenged by the end of the 45-minute session.
He beat Chip Ganassi’s Tony Kanaan by less than one tenth of a second, with his team-mate Scott Dixon third.
James Hinchcliffe was fourth, with 2016 champion Simon Pagenaud fifth and Graham Rahal putting in a late improvement to jump up to sixth.
Hélio Castroneves, Charlie Kimball, Ryan Hunter-Reay and former F1 racer Max Chilton completed the top 10.
Power got back out on track and ended the session 11th, ahead of 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, while new Penske recruit Josef Newgarden was a low-key 15th.
Discussion about this post