Will Power fastest in Indy 500 second practice

Will Power has topped the second practice session ahead of the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500, after a day focused on race simulations by many teams and drivers.

The 2014 champion sat atop the classification for the majority of the session, with a 224.656mph lap which was considerably slower than the benchmark produced by Marco Andretti during the opening practice session yesterday.

At the start of the day rookies Jack Harvey and Zach Veach were allowed 15 minutes of track action to themselves to try and finalise their rookie orientation programmes after both drivers suffered an interrupted opening day of practice.

Once Harvey and Veach had completed their 15 minutes of private track time the rest of the field joined the action, with many teams focusing mainly on running all of their cars at once nose-to-tail out on track to try and prepare their drivers for race day.

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Helio Castroneves joined team-mate Power at the top as the day wore on, with the veteran racer eventually ending proceedings P2 overall.

Gabby Chaves made a late improvement during the final hour of the session for rookie outfit Harding Racing, completing a 223.991mph lap.

The 2014 IndyLights champion is competing in his third Indianapolis 500 race for a third different team, and will be looking to use as much of his experience as possible to assist one of the newest IndyCar teams throughout the month of May.

Ryan Hunter-Reay was fourth fastest for Andretti Autosport, ahead of returnee Sage Karam.

Karam started the day in competitive form, trading the top spot with the likes of Ed Carpenter and Josef Newgarden. 

Takuma Sato was P6 after a productive day, with the Andretti Autosport drivers completing lots of laps together on track throughout the session.

Mikhail Aleshin was seventh, with the Russian racer even rising to the top at one stage during the day.

Despite Aleshin’s pace, his day ended after a very light tap against the SAFER barrier which forced him to return to the pits.

Reigning champion Simon Pagenaud was P8 ahead of J.R. Hildebrand, with Newgarden rounding out the top ten as Penske also completed considerable laps together on track.

Although the day ran incident-free there were 11 caution periods for debris and various track inspections.

Further down the order double Formula 1 champion Fernando Alonso could only manage P24 for McLaren-Honda-Andretti, with a 221.029mph lap. 

The Spaniard completed 117 laps altogether, gaining valuable experience handling an Indycar in traffic, particularly towards the end of the day.

Meanwhile James Hinchcliffe’s team managed to finally rectify his electrical issue, with the Canadian racer returning to the track with two hours and 44 minutes left.

This enabled him to complete 60 laps and end the day a respectable P29 considering his delayed start.