Penske trifecta at the top of the charts for first IndyCar practice of 2015

St. Petersburg, Fla. - Despite a little bit more horsepower and new aero kits, the old saying still remains true: the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Three of Team Penske’s four drivers were atop the timesheet after the first practice session at the Firestone Indy Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Will Power pushed his Verizon Chevrolet car to a fastest lap of 1:01.4709, averaging north of 105.4 miles per hour around the 1.8 mile street circuit.

Second fastest was Juan Pablo Montoya, just over two-tenths of a second behind Power’s time, while Helio Castroneves was third, four ten-thousandths of a second slower than Montoya.

Chevy domination

However, domination wasn’t just a Penske theme in the first practice session. Chevrolet-powered cars took up nine of the first 11 spots, only ceding sixth and seventh to Jack Hawksworth and James Hinchcliffe, respectively. They were a little over four-tenths of a second behind Power’s time.

The session was not particularly kind to rookie drivers, as Luca Filippi was fastest of the rookie drivers in 11th place. Stefano Coletti and Sage Karam were 16th and 17th, respectively, while Gabby Chaves and Francesco Dracone logged in the 23rd and 24th fastest times out of 24 cars. Dracone was 3.5 seconds slower than Power’s time.