Leist tops Phoenix rookie lap times (2nd Update)

Fittipaldi listens to advice from Sebastien Bourdais

UPDATE With beautiful sunny 70 degree weather, the 2018 rookies took to the oval track in Phoenix this afternoon for rookie testing. All the rookies took to the track in the afternoon with the new Indycar. Robert Wickens for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Matheus Leist for Foyt Racing, Zach Veach for Andretti Autosport, Kyle Kaiser for Junocs Racing and Pietro Fittipaldi for Dale Coyne Racing. Also testing today were Gabby Chaves for Harding Racing and Spencer Pigot for Ed Carpenter Racing. There were no incidents during the afternoon session.

AR1 spoke with Pietro Fittipaldi after his first run of the afternoon. The 21 year old grandson of Emerson Fittipaldi has this to say, 'It was very intimidating the first couple of laps. Of course, you are really high speed and the walls come up really fast. But I really enjoyed it. The team has helped me a lot to get up to speed and doing everything right. I am looking forward to the rest of the day."

When asked if he had driven on an oval before, Fittipaldi responded, "Yes I drove on ovals in late models. Very different, shorter tracks. I drove a half mile and other tracks. It has been over five years ago though. It has been a while but I am enjoying this a lot. I spend five years in Europe and won the World Series Championship last year."

'My Grandfather and cousin Christian called me yesterday. Max Papis is also my Uncle and he is here giving me advice." I think he has a strong chance of becoming an awesome IndyCar driver with all those coaches.

Lucille Dust reporting live from ISM in Phoenix

02/08/18 The final rookie times of the day are in:

02/08/18 The 2018 IndyCar rookies are testing today at Phoenix on the 1.02-mile oval and with 30 min. left in a 4-hour session, here are the standings: