In IndyCar’s opening practice session from Portland International Raceway, it was Josef Newgarden that set the fastest time of the afternoon.
The two-time champion lapped the course in 58.577 seconds, and bodes well for the rest of the weekend despite a six-place grid spot penalty for an unapproved engine change.
Coming off his thrilling podium finish at Gateway, David Malukas put down more fast times in the opening session this weekend. He ended the afternoon in second, just an eighth of a second slower than Newgarden.
Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top three, and he narrowly holds hope of winning the championship with only two rounds remaining.
The current championship leader Will Power finished with the tenth fastest time, but was still within half of a second of the top time.
Only 20 minutes of practice was completed before an unexpected red flag brought a halt to the session. The cause ended up being a video board on the front stretch that had a bizarre mechanical failure.
The board leaked hydraulic fluid near the track, but more importantly the screen fell down into part of the trailer that carries it from track to track, and was leaning heavily near the trackside fence.
It took nearly 80 minutes for track officials to secure the screen enough for practice to resume late in the afternoon.
The red flag flew a few other times, however, as Takuma Sato, Helio Castroneves, and Pato O’Ward all had problems that led to stoppages.
Sato had the biggest moment of them all, as he went wide in turn 11 and was wedged underneath the tire barriers. Two tow trucks were needed to extract his car, which Sato was somehow able to drive back to the pits.
Everyone will have another early morning practice session on Saturday, followed by a knockout qualifying session 12:00PM local time.
