Mid-day update from Belle Isle
Unfortunately, there has been very little running in the near 50 minutes the Indy cars have had the track, as the session has been characterized by numerous interruptions.
Of course, the start of the session was delayed about 10 minutes as a concrete barrier needed to be fixed. Shortly after going green, Josef Newgarden came to a stop on the backstretch bringing out a red flag. Ryan Briscoe would bring out another red flag with a spin.
Then, a rather bizarre scenario would halt the session again, as a family of ducks found their way onto the track. Yes, you read that correct: a mama and 4-5 little ducklings (I think) decided they wanted an up close view of IndyCar practice.
Fortunately, no ducks were hurt. However, the session was further delayed as track workers found Mama Duck to be quite stubborn in her insistence she stay on the track.
When DuckGate ended and the cars went back to green, there was shortly thereafter, you guessed it: another red flag. As I was writing about ducks at the time, I couldn't tell exactly what the red was for, but it appears Dario Franchitti ran over the rumble strips, which caused his tires to blister. Also, Franchitti's teammate Scott Dixon had to be towed in. Will check on that and try to update later.
Lastly, another red came out a few minutes ago after James Hinchcliffe spun. Hinchcliffe was restarted, however he has yet to return to the track.
And before another red flag comes out, I'm going to sign off.
Brian C. reporting from Belle Isle