IndyCar took to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for the second time of the day on Friday afternoon.
As clouds rolled in and threatened rain, drivers had to put that out of their minds and get to work completing practice laps with an eye towards qualifying.
25 drivers did their best to find clean track in order to set representative times, and it was a familiar name topped the time sheets.
Alex Palou, fresh off leading the first practice session, lapped the track in 1:10.4507.
His time was nearly half a second slower than the morning, but was still the class of the field once again.
Kyle Kirkwood traded top times with Palou over the course of the session, however, with both drivers showing a mastery of the 2.44-mile course.
Kirkwood ended the day with a time of 1:10.5574, and looks set to continue his role as one of the only drivers that can get close to the speedy Spaniard.
Luis Foster was third quick, continuing Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s good form this weekend.
Graham Rahal did not share that momentum, however, and was near the very back after setting the second fastest time earlier in the day.
Christian Lundgaard and Marcus Ericsson were fourth and fifth quick, with Andretti Global the only team with two cars in the top five.
In all there were six Honda engines in the top seven positions, continuing the Japanese manufacturer’s good form this weekend.
Team Penske was lower down the order than they would have liked, with David Malukas’ 11th place lap the quickest of the trio. Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden were down in 13th and 18th respectively.
As rain continues to approach the speedway, drivers may have a completely new challenge to deal with when qualifying takes place at 5:30 PM.
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