Hunter-Reay tops Dixon to lead opening IndyCar practice
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| Ryan Hunter-Reay |
Andretti Autosport ace Ryan Hunter-Reay turned a lap of 1m17.574s in his Honda to lead opening practice for the IndyCars at Sonoma Raceway.
Championship points leader Scott Dixon was 2nd quick at 1m17.827s – some 0.2525s behind Hunter-Reay in his Ganassi Honda.
Team Penske, who dominates at all undulating tracks, including this one, due to their special shocks, was 3rd and 4th quick, Will Power just 0.078 sec. faster than Simon Pagenaud.
Marco Andretti rounded out the top-5 in the #98 Andretti Autosport Honda.
James Hinchcliffe had a couple of minor spins and Josef Newgarden never turned a lap in his #1 Penske Chevy due to technical issues and food poisoning.
Practice 1 Results
| Pos | No | Name | FTime | Diff | Gap | Laps | FSpeed | Engine | Team |
| 1 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 1:17.574 | –.—- | –.—- | 7 | 110.681 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 2 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 1:17.827 | 0.2526 | 0.2526 | 8 | 110.322 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing Teams |
| 3 | 12 | Will Power | 1:17.882 | 0.3076 | 0.0550 | 10 | 110.244 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 4 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 1:17.959 | 0.3844 | 0.0768 | 10 | 110.135 | Chevy | Team Penske |
| 5 | 98 | Marco Andretti | 1:18.088 | 0.5136 | 0.1292 | 9 | 109.953 | Honda | Andretti Herta Autosport with CA |
| 6 | 10 | Ed Jones | 1:18.138 | 0.5643 | 0.0507 | 9 | 109.882 | Honda | Chip Ganassi Racing Teams |
| 7 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 1:18.166 | 0.5923 | 0.0280 | 11 | 109.842 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 8 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | 1:18.274 | 0.6996 | 0.1073 | 10 | 109.692 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 9 | 26 | Zach Veach | 1:18.354 | 0.7799 | 0.0803 | 14 | 109.579 | Honda | Andretti Autosport |
| 10 | 18 | Sebastien Bourdais | 1:18.371 | 0.7967 | 0.0168 | 11 | 109.556 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing with VS |
| 11 | 19 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 1:18.444 | 0.8700 | 0.0733 | 16 | 109.454 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 12 | 39 | Santino Ferrucci | 1:18.599 | 1.0252 | 0.1552 | 17 | 109.237 | Honda | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 13 | 21 | Spencer Pigot | 1:18.729 | 1.1548 | 0.1296 | 9 | 109.058 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 14 | 30 | Takuma Sato | 1:18.746 | 1.1714 | 0.0166 | 14 | 109.035 | Honda | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
| 15 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | 1:18.776 | 1.2015 | 0.0301 | 9 | 108.993 | Honda | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
| 16 | 88 | Colton Herta | 1:18.826 | 1.2519 | 0.0504 | 17 | 108.923 | Chevy | Harding Racing |
| 17 | 60 | Jack Harvey | 1:18.931 | 1.3568 | 0.1049 | 13 | 108.779 | Honda | Meyer Shank Racing with SPM |
| 18 | 23 | Charlie Kimball | 1:18.964 | 1.3896 | 0.0328 | 11 | 108.733 | Chevy | Carlin |
| 19 | 14 | Tony Kanaan | 1:19.061 | 1.4870 | 0.0974 | 10 | 108.599 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 20 | 4 | Matheus Leist | 1:19.092 | 1.5175 | 0.0305 | 17 | 108.558 | Chevy | AJ Foyt Enterprises |
| 21 | 6 | Carlos Munoz | 1:19.093 | 1.5183 | 0.0008 | 12 | 108.556 | Honda | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
| 22 | 20 | Jordan King | 1:19.163 | 1.5890 | 0.0707 | 15 | 108.459 | Chevy | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 23 | 59 | Max Chilton | 1:19.174 | 1.5997 | 0.0107 | 11 | 108.445 | Chevy | Carlin |
| 24 | 8 | Patricio O'Ward | 1:19.190 | 1.6156 | 0.0159 | 13 | 108.423 | Chevy | Harding Racing |
| 25 | 1 | Josef Newgarden | No Time | — | — | — | — | Chevy | Team Penske |