Sonoma IndyCar: Newgarden stays top in FP2 qualifying sim
Josef Newgarden is looking strong for tomorrow’s qualifying session after topping the speed charts when all cars tried the softer-compound Firestones in this afternoon’s qualifying session.
Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet
Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images
The championship leader lapped the 2.385-mile road course in 1min16.2485sec – under the official track record – to set an average speed of 112.605mph, once he switched to the red-sidewall tires. That put him a mere 0.0386 ahead of last year’s polesitter and defending IndyCar champion teammate Simon Pagenaud, as Helio Castroneves and Will Power were a further 0.1 and 0.2sec behind.
Fastest Honda accolade went to Ryan Hunter-Reay in the #28 Andretti Autosport entry, encouragingly just 0.23 off Newgarden’s pace, and one tenth ahead of the Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda of Scott Dixon. The four-time champion comes into this race just three points behind Newgarden.
Marco Andretti, Alexander Rossi and Takuma Sato made sure all four Andretti cars were in the Top 10, while Graham Rahal – who finished second here last year – was 10th.
Jack Harvey, making his second roadcourse IndyCar start this weeknd, was 0.8sec off Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda teammate James Hinchcliffe, while IndyCar debutant Zachary Claman DeMelo was 1.3sec behind Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda teammate Graham Rahal. That was a respectable result in his first encounter with red tires.
Sonoma, IndyCar FP2
Cla | # | Driver | Laps | Time | Gap | Interval | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | 11 | 1'16.2485 | 112.605 | ||
2 | 1 | Simon Pagenaud | 11 | 1'16.2871 | 0.0386 | 0.0386 | 112.549 |
3 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | 8 | 1'16.3471 | 0.0986 | 0.0600 | 112.460 |
4 | 12 | Will Power | 11 | 1'16.4389 | 0.1904 | 0.0918 | 112.325 |
5 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 9 | 1'16.4829 | 0.2344 | 0.0440 | 112.260 |
6 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 10 | 1'16.5863 | 0.3378 | 0.1034 | 112.109 |
7 | 27 | Marco Andretti | 10 | 1'16.5999 | 0.3514 | 0.0136 | 112.089 |
8 | 98 | Alexander Rossi | 11 | 1'16.6725 | 0.4240 | 0.0726 | 111.983 |
9 | 26 | Takuma Sato | 13 | 1'16.7542 | 0.5057 | 0.0817 | 111.864 |
10 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 11 | 1'16.8121 | 0.5636 | 0.0579 | 111.779 |
11 | 10 | Tony Kanaan | 11 | 1'16.8291 | 0.5806 | 0.0170 | 111.755 |
12 | 18 | Sébastien Bourdais | 12 | 1'16.9746 | 0.7261 | 0.1455 | 111.543 |
13 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | 17 | 1'17.0106 | 0.7621 | 0.0360 | 111.491 |
14 | 8 | Max Chilton | 11 | 1'17.0545 | 0.8060 | 0.0439 | 111.428 |
15 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | 9 | 1'17.1716 | 0.9231 | 0.1171 | 111.259 |
16 | 20 | Spencer Pigot | 12 | 1'17.2615 | 1.0130 | 0.0899 | 111.129 |
17 | 19 | Ed Jones | 12 | 1'17.2681 | 1.0196 | 0.0066 | 111.120 |
18 | 21 | J.R. Hildebrand | 20 | 1'17.3791 | 1.1306 | 0.1110 | 110.960 |
19 | 4 | Conor Daly | 15 | 1'17.4156 | 1.1671 | 0.0365 | 110.908 |
20 | 14 | Carlos Munoz | 13 | 1'17.6810 | 1.4325 | 0.2654 | 110.529 |
21 | 7 | Jack Harvey | 14 | 1'17.9880 | 1.7395 | 0.3070 | 110.094 |
22 | 13 | Zachary Claman DeMelo | 16 | 1'18.0604 | 1.8119 | 0.0724 | 109.992 |
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