IndyCar headed out onto the Long Beach street course Saturday morning, looking to finalize setups for qualifying scheduled for later in the day.
Track conditions were markedly different to Friday afternoon’s session, as clouds moved in and cooler temperatures swept over the circuit. Track temps were approximately 45°F colder than the day before.
That difference led to a mixed up running order as the balance of the cars shifted considerably.
Nolan Siegel was the quickest of the morning session, completing an impressive lap of the temporary course in just 1:07.1169.
The young driver was well ahead of his Arrow McLaren team-mates, but only 0.048 seconds ahead of Colton Herta in second place.
“It builds a lot of confidence going into qualifying for the whole group,” said Siegel. “I’m looking forward to qualifying. Looking forward to seeing what we’ve got. We’ll see, but I’d like to make this my first Fast 6 as well.”
Herta’s lap was arguably more impressive, however, because he did so on the harder compound Firestone tire, getting it to work for him despite the cooler temperatures.
Most drivers chose to circulate on the harder tire for the entire session so they could save as many sets as possible of the softer guayule tire for qualifying.
Rookie Louis Foster was one of the few that fitted the softer tire, and used that advantage to claim the third spot after 45 minutes were complete.
Friday’s fast man Will Power was fourth quickest, with Kyle Kirkwood setting the fifth fastest time.
Tricky Turn 9
The large bump in the Turn 9 braking zone continued to cause issues, with multiple drivers locking tires and sliding into the runoff area.
Santino Ferrucci and Colton Herta were among those that were forced to abandon the corner and flick their cars around to get back on track.
It was the entrance to Turn 6 that caught out last year’s Long Beach winner Scott Dixon however, as the veteran drifted too wide while preparing for the corner.
The right side of his car clipped the concrete barriers and damaged the front and rear wheels and the edge of the floor in between as well.
The veteran was lucky to drive back to the pits, where his Chip Ganassi Racing crew assessed the damage and made quick repairs that allowed him to turn more laps before the session was complete.
There were no other incidents and the entire session was held under green flag conditions, allowing most of the field to complete at least 20 laps.
Drivers only have two hours to relax before they head back out for a critical knockout qualifying session, when track temps are predicted to rise once again.
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