IndyCar took to the streets of downtown Detroit Saturday morning for the second practice session of the weekend, and it was a busy one.
27 drivers piled onto the 1.645-mile course to get in as many laps as they could, but traffic meant that very few were able to get a clean lap in.
Colton Herta got a solitary lap in without being interrupted by other drivers, and was able to rocket to the top of the timesheets.
He completed his lap in 1:01.5726, two tenths of a second faster that Friday’s run and very near to the overall fastest lap last year.
His Andretti Global team-mate Kyle Kirkwood set the second fastest time, followed by Alex Palou in third.
Kirkwood was involved in an altercation on pit lane at the conclusion of running, with Santino Ferrucci having a disagreement about on track conduct during the practice session.
The two drivers touched wheels while jockeying for position in a line of cars that were stacked up in Turn 5 looking for a clear bit of race track.
After they came to their pit boxes, Kirkwood walked over to talk about the incident and was immediately shoved by Ferrucci.
The two were pulled apart, but the verbal insults freely flew across the pit lane.
Both drivers blamed the other in TV interviews and had less than kind words about each other’s driving standards at more than just this weekend.
Ferrucci ended the Saturday practice session in 20th in his AJ Foyt Racing Chevy, 17 places down from Kirkwood, and also was clearly more bothered by the situation than the other.
In fourth was Theo Pourchaire, who is now secure in his ride for the rest of the season, and rounding out the top five was Agustin Canapino.
Pourchaire had an unfortunate end to the morning session, as he put his #6 Arrow McLaren Chevy into the tire barriers, damaging his front wing.
There was only one stoppage during the session for Pourchaire, but there were multiple drivers that misjudged one of the few tricky braking zones around the course.
Most were able to flick their cars around and get going again, but a few needed assistance from the AMR safety crew to restart their motors.
Race control opted to deploy local yellows for all of those incidents, however, which kept the session flowing uninterrupted.
Teams have a short time to make final adjustments and prepare their cars for a knockout qualifying session, which takes place at 12:15 PM eastern time.
