Portland IndyCar: Rossi, Lundgaard, Palou head last practice

Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet was the first driver under 60sec during final practice – effectively, race warm-up – running a 59.6586sec, which equates to 118.514mph around this 1.964-mile road course in Portland, Oregon.

However, he was beaten by 0.2sec by Josef Newgarden of Team Penske-Chevy who qualified second and will start eighth due to his grid penalty for taking his fifth engine of the season.

Alex Palou, the sole Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda driver to start tomorrow’s race in the Top 15 (a very healthy sixth, in fact) then moved to the top with a 59.2196, while Penske’s Will Power moved into third.

Callum Ilott hit the grass but moved up to fourth behind Palou, Newgarden and Power in the Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevy.

Then with seven minutes to go, it was Andretti Autosport-Honda’s Alexander Rossi who clocked top time, the ninth-place starter turning a 59.0532sec lap – 119.729mph.

Rookie Christian Lundgaard, the best non-Penske in qualifying – moved his Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda into second place, 0.1274sec off Rossi,

Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, whose Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolets will start sixth and seventh tomorrow, ended final practice in the Top 10, separated from each other by Ilott, and Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda.

In the final five minutes, Scott Dixon, Ganassi’s six-time champion, jumped into the top five between Newgarden and Power.

A few drivers – including Scott McLaughlin, who took pole in the #3 Freightliner Penske – practiced exiting Turn 12 on the inside per IndyCar’s new starting procedure https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/indycar-listens-responds-to-drivers-over-portland-start/10363148/ and holding it all the way down to Turn 1.

Several more practiced running through the chicanes within the Turn 1 / Turn 2 chicane, in preparation for should the worst happen at some point in the race tomorrow.

The Grand Prix of Portland will begin at 12.30pm local (Pacific) time on Sunday, Sept. 4.

P	Name	FTime	Diff	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Team
1	Alexander Rossi	59.0532	-	15	22	119.729	Honda	Andretti Autosport
2	Christian Lundgaard	59.1806	0.1274	19	25	119.472	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
3	Alex Palou	59.2196	0.1664	10	25	119.393	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
4	Josef Newgarden	59.2662	0.2130	15	27	119.299	Chevy	Team Penske
5	Scott Dixon	59.2731	0.2199	22	24	119.285	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
6	Will Power	59.3594	0.3062	11	27	119.112	Chevy	Team Penske
7	Pato O'Ward	59.4285	0.3753	19	25	118.973	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
8	Callum Ilott	59.4479	0.3947	15	21	118.934	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
9	Graham Rahal	59.4676	0.4144	23	25	118.895	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
10	Felix Rosenqvist	59.4701	0.4169	16	28	118.890	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
11	David Malukas	59.4752	0.4220	20	22	118.880	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
12	Scott McLaughlin	59.4759	0.4227	12	27	118.878	Chevy	Team Penske
13	Takuma Sato	59.5207	0.4675	22	23	118.789	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
14	Romain Grosjean	59.5916	0.5384	17	22	118.648	Honda	Andretti Autosport
15	Rinus VeeKay	59.6586	0.6054	9	20	118.514	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
16	Colton Herta	59.7024	0.6492	16	22	118.427	Honda	Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian
17	Jack Harvey	59.7264	0.6732	17	24	118.380	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
18	Kyle Kirkwood	59.7321	0.6789	11	26	118.369	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
19	Marcus Ericsson	59.8543	0.8011	17	19	118.127	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
20	Devlin DeFrancesco	59.9174	0.8642	9	20	118.002	Honda	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
21	Simon Pagenaud	59.9213	0.8681	20	21	117.995	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
22	Helio Castroneves	59.9685	0.9153	21	21	117.902	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
23	Conor Daly	1:00.5090	1.4558	8	20	116.849	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
24	Dalton Kellett	1:00.6119	1.5587	22	24	116.650	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
25	Jimmie Johnson	1:00.6663	1.6131	26	26	116.546	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing