Detroit IndyCar: Hunter-Reay tops final practice/warm-up

With the Detroit Grand Prix running a unique qualifying system, the ‘warm-up’ and pitstop practice took place as the final session on Friday.

The lap times didn’t mean much as some drivers set their best laps on the primary compound tires and others ran Firestone’s new alternate compound. However, it was vital running as the next time IndyCars are on track around the 2.35-mile Belle Isle track it will be qualifying Saturday morning for the afternoon race – a process repeated on the Sunday.

Hunter-Reay lapped in 1min15.9896sec, 0.2889 ahead of teammate Zach Veach, while Scott Dixon in the Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda was third.

Fastest Chevrolet driver was Will Power in the Penske #12, who did a long run on the alternate compound tires to gauge their durability.

Fastest in second practice, Alexander Rossi, clocked fifth fastest ahead of Harding Steinbrenner Racing’s Colton Herta.

Qualifying for Race 1 begins at 10.45am with 15mins for the 11-car Group 1, while the15mins for 11-car Group 2 begins at 11.00am.

P	Name	FTime	Diff	Gap	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Tire	Team
1	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1:15.990	--.----	--.----	12	111.331	Honda	P	Andretti Autosport
2	Zach Veach	1:16.278	0.2889	0.2889	10	110.909	Honda	P	Andretti Autosport
3	Scott Dixon	1:16.286	0.2960	0.0071	18	110.899	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
4	Will Power	1:16.694	0.7044	0.4084	17	110.308	Chevy	A	Team Penske
5	Alexander Rossi	1:16.821	0.8311	0.1267	14	110.127	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport
6	Colton Herta	1:16.874	0.8843	0.0532	14	110.050	Honda	P	Harding Steinbrenner Racing
7	Graham Rahal	1:16.981	0.9916	0.1073	17	109.897	Honda	P	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
8	Josef Newgarden	1:17.126	1.1364	0.1448	19	109.691	Chevy	A	Team Penske
9	Sebastien Bourdais	1:17.172	1.1822	0.0458	14	109.626	Honda	A	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan
10	Spencer Pigot	1:17.214	1.2242	0.0420	13	109.566	Chevy	A	Ed Carpenter Racing
11	Felix Rosenqvist	1:17.484	1.4940	0.2698	14	109.184	Honda	P	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
12	Simon Pagenaud	1:17.506	1.5161	0.0221	15	109.153	Chevy	P	Team Penske
13	Ed Jones	1:17.582	1.5922	0.0761	17	109.046	Chevy	P	Ed Carpenter Racing
14	Tony Kanaan	1:17.671	1.6816	0.0894	12	108.921	Chevy	A	AJ Foyt Enterprises
15	Takuma Sato	1:17.685	1.6955	0.0139	15	108.901	Honda	P	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
16	Marcus Ericsson	1:17.785	1.7955	0.1000	11	108.761	Honda	A	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
17	Marco Andretti	1:17.833	1.8436	0.0481	12	108.694	Honda	A	Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian
18	Matheus Leist	1:17.879	1.8894	0.0458	13	108.630	Chevy	P	AJ Foyt Enterprises
19	Max Chilton	1:18.014	2.0241	0.1347	13	108.442	Chevy	P	Carlin
20	James Hinchcliffe	1:18.300	2.3104	0.2863	11	108.046	Honda	P	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
21	Santino Ferrucci	1:18.505	2.5153	0.2049	14	107.764	Honda	P	Dale Coyne Racing
22	Patricio O'Ward	1:19.645	3.6553	1.1400	12	106.221	Chevy	Ao	Carlin