IndyCar took to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday morning, with sunshine greeting drivers that suffered through a damp track the day before.
The 27 athletes wasted no time putting in laps, putting the new hybrid system through its paces and figuring out the best strategy for the rest of the weekend.
Pato O’Ward ended the morning session in the top spot, completing a lap of the roller coaster course in 1:05:9862.
He reported after the session that the balance of the car was extra tough to nail down, but he is looking good so far.
Graham Rahal and Colton Herta also looked speedy, with the two drivers setting the second and third fastest times respectively.
In fourth was David Malukas, who continues to look on form as he returns to a full time schedule after healing from his wrist injury.
Scott McLaughlin was the fastest Team Penske driver in eighth, but his team-mates were down in 13th and 19th. The powerhouse team will be attempting to correct their pace before qualifying this afternoon.
On account of the interrupted running during the first practice session on Friday, teams were allowed to carry over a set of alternate tires for Saturday’s running.
That allowed drivers to complete a high number of laps during the 45 minutes available, giving them a valuable chance to learn the new hybrid system.
The first red flag was for Colton Herta, who slid off the track at Turn 12 and nosed his car into the barriers.
He was able to drive back to pit lane, but only after receiving assistance from the AMR safety crew to remove him from the tires. He was able to return to the track and went on to put in his fast lap right as time expired.
Kyffin Simpson spun later on, with his car staying in the racing line during his 360 degree turn.
Josef Newgarden had a bit of a scare as he came across the spinning CGR entry, and he was barely able to dodge out of the way as he came through at speed.
Both Herta and Simpson were not able to restart their cars on their own, despite the new hybrid system being designed to allow drivers to do just that.
HRC President David Salters confirmed earlier in the day that any failures to restart are due to software programming, and not a failure of the hardware.
Either way, one of the main benefits of the new system may need some more time before it is truly in play.
Multiple other drivers also slid off the track, but were able to keep going on their own. Many of the incidents appeared to center around brake bias, which makes sense considering that is affected heavily when the hybrid system is harvesting power.
Attention now turns to qualifying, with the knockout sessions getting underway at 3:00 PM eastern time.
