Power tops 2nd IndyCar practice in Long Beach

Will Power navigates the Turn 11 Hairpin during practice for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach

Penske-Chevy driver Will Power turned the fastest lap of 1m07.599s to lead the 2nd practice session Friday afternoon for the 42nd running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.

As it was in the morning session, it was not a Chevy domination with Honda drivers intermixed with Chevy drivers throughout the top-10.

Honda drivers James Hinchcliffe and Graham Rahal were 2nd and 3rd proving the Hondas have a fighting chance here on the streets by the sea.

In five of the last seven years, drivers from Team Penske have captured pole position for the race, including three straight by Power (2009-11).

"It's been a good start," Power said. "This morning I learned some stuff with (teammate) Juan (Pablo Montoya) and we're progressing well. This is a track where I've struggled the last couple of years in qualifying, starting way back there, so I want to start up front and give ourselves a better chance to win the race."

Second on the speed chart was James Hinchcliffe in the No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda, at 1:07.8223 (104.461 mph), followed by Graham Rahal in the No. 15 PennGrade Motor Oil Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (1:07.8853, 104.364 mph).

"The car was great off the truck," Hinchcliffe said. "Made very few changes over lunch, which is always a nice thing when you're not thrashing. The pace was still relatively decent this afternoon. It doesn't matter till it matters, but it's definitely a good starting point for us."

Rahal felt good about his car's showing as well.

"We have one less set of tires than some so we didn't run on new tires as much as some, but I feel good about where we are right now," Rahal said. "I feel good about what the car is giving me. We have a little more work to do but in terms of competitiveness but we seem to be very close."

Power's three teammates from Team Penske rounded out the top six in practice. Simon Pagenaud was fourth overall in the No. 22 PPG Automotive Finish Chevrolet (1:07.9015, 104.339 mph), Montoya fifth in the No. 2 Verizon Chevy (1:07.9443, 104.274 mph) and Helio Castroneves sixth in the No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California Chevy (1:08.0431, 104.122 mph).

Qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award begins at 5 p.m. ET April 16 (streamed live on IndyCar.com, tape-delay broadcast at 6 p.m. ET on NBCSN). Indy cars will race for a 33rd consecutive year in the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 17 (4 p.m. ET, NBCSN and Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network).

QUOTES

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "Our first practice was good in the Verizon Chevy. The second practice we made a couple of mistakes. I think we actually learned a lot more during the second practice because we found some things we shouldn't have done. With what we learned I think we'll be better for the race. For qualifying set up we may have gone back a little bit but we will continue to work on it in the practice tomorrow."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Auto Club of Southern California Team Penske Chevrolet): "The Auto Club of Southern California Chevy was running good today. We were able to make some changes from the first practice to the second and it seemed to improve the car. We need to continue working together with the entire team for tomorrow – it really starts to count then. Hopefully we can come back strong like last year, be in the top six and put it on the pole."

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): "Everything is relative. We've had a difficult start to the season, but not like the end of my last one. It's easy to still sleep well at night knowing things could be worse. We had a strong car in St. Pete, qualified decently, inside the top 10 there. The race didn't play out. Phoenix was its own deal. We're looking to try to turn that around this weekend, start getting some points on the board. It's a track I really like coming to, an event I love coming to. The car was great off the truck. Made very few changes over lunch, which is always a nice thing when you're not thrashing. The pace was still relatively decent this afternoon. It doesn't matter till it matters, but it's definitely a good starting point for us."

MAX CHILTON (No. 8 Gallagher Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): "It was a bit of a struggle for us today with the Gallagher team. I think overall we could have done a bit better but we really need to sit down tonight and get a plan together for tomorrow. You really have to qualify well at a place like this because passing is at such a premium. I'm still learning the track layout as well. We'll spend time tonight assessing where we are overall and have a plan to come back stronger in final practice tomorrow morning."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): "We didn't really get to do much running in the first session this morning with all the downtime from the red flags and traffic. It just seemed like you could never really get a clear lap with all the cars out there. We missed a little bit on the setup and tried some new things that we didn't do last year. P8 is not where we want to be of course with Team Target but we still have another session tomorrow morning to work on it before qualifying. Qualifying is of course so crucial on street circuits so hopefully we make the right changes and get a good starting spot tomorrow for the race."

TONY KANAAN (No. 10 NTT Data Chevrolet): "It felt really good to be back on-track today in Long Beach. We tried a few things in both practices in terms of our qualifying setup that didn't work as well as we'd hoped. We aren't quite there yet with a setup that works for everyone, but I think we're close. We had a strong qualifying in Phoenix and I'm confident that we'll be able to work through the data and put together a strong qualifying effort for the No. 10 NTT DATA Chevrolet tomorrow."

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 11 California Baptist University-KVSH Chevrolet): "Not a great day for the California Baptist University – KVSH Racing team. We struggled a little, then at the end I made a small mistake. However the field is very close. It doesn't take much to move up the grid. Just a couple small adjustments… little steps. We will sit down, take a look at all the data and see what we can come up with for tomorrow."

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "It's been a good start. This morning I learned some stuff with Juan (Pablo Montoya), and we're progressing well. This is a track where I've struggled the last couple of years in qualifying starting way back there, so I want to start up front and give ourselves a better chance to win the race."

TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): "The session went well. We had a couple of experimental test items that we wanted to try and we collected very valuable data. Of course it's very nice to be back in Long Beach. It's typical California, where the fans are very enthusiastic, and we have a lot of fans flying in from Japan so that's great. Now that we have the data, tomorrow we will be stronger."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 PennGrade Motor Oil Honda): "I couldn't get a good lap in on the new tires; it took me way too long. I guess today is a good day to do that but it's just disappointing because I knew that the car had the lap time in it. Finally we got a decent one in though. The PennGrade car seems to be good. The balance isn't bad. We have a couple of things to work on but we're in a good position right now. And we have one less set of tires than some, so we didn't run on new tires as much as some, but I feel good about where we are right now. I feel good about what the car is giving me. We have a little more work to do, but in terms of competitiveness, we seem to be very close."

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): "It was a good day, a clean day for us which is always good. No major drama! We worked through a lot of good stuff, we were able to get a good read on what we need to do for tomorrow. We didn't quite put it all together like we needed to do at the end of the day on the last set of tires, but we know where we're at. The Fuzzy's car looks good and we're excited to qualify tomorrow."

SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 22 PPG Automotive Refinish Team Penske Chevrolet): "The PPG Automotive Refinish team did a great job in making a great recovery for second practice. We had a couple of issues earlier this morning. The real issue was the first set of tires, but we recovered to put ourselves in the top four. So, we can relax a little bit, knowing we're up there and it's a real testament to our crew to get that car ready so quickly. The track is tricky out there. The cars are so fast and we brake so deep, so you really have to try hard because there's a lot going on. However, we did a great job to bounce back so quickly before qualifying tomorrow."

CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda): "I finished both practices top ten. We have to get a little bit of work done. In the car everyone is really close to each other, one-tenth would have put me top five. It's just practice though, qualifying is another thing and the race is another thing. We're looking a little bit better than last year. We're making good progress as a team. Let's see how it goes tomorrow. Tomorrow is another day."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 27 United Fiber & Data/Snapple Honda): "It seems like it's taking a lot of laps for the tires to come in and we weren't really able to put a run together with enough laps without a yellow or traffic. I was on a lap good enough for maybe eighth, but we need to improve it from there before we go out on track again tomorrow."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): "The day started out okay. I was P3 in the morning IMSA outing and then P7 in the morning IndyCar session. We made some big changes for the afternoon run and went the wrong way. We lost the car – I was just doing everything I could not to crash. We need to reinvent the wheel for tomorrow, but we'll work at it and we'll get there for the DHL car."

JACK HAWKSWORTH (No. 41 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): "In the first session we didn't really get to try anything because there were a lot of red flags and we had a small issue with brakes at the beginning. In the second session, we did get through the things we needed to and learned a couple things which were positives. I'm really happy with the car, it feels really connected around here and I feel I understand what it's doing. The pace is very good. We're not as fast as we were in the first practice but the pace in the first practice isn't a fair reflection. I think tomorrow we'll be at the front and we'll be in good shape."

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Tresiba Chevrolet): "In Practice 2 we worked on some balance stuff trying to find a better combination for the car. I feel pretty good about the No. 83 Tresiba® Chevrolet – I think we're in a good window. We need a little bit of lap time, but it's just been so competitive today. I think I ended the second session 12th, but a tenth would've put me in seventh. We're looking for a little more than that and we have a pretty good idea on how to make that happen heading into tomorrow morning. I'm confident that we'll be strong coming out of tomorrow's morning practice and heading into qualifying tomorrow afternoon."

ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 98 Castrol Edge/Curb Honda): "First of all its amazing to be in California and race in Long Beach. I love the track. It's a really really great track, it's probably in my top-3 street circuits I've ever been to. This morning was unfortunate, we had the session which ended in the tire barrier. I think the team did a great job getting the car prepared for this afternoon's practice. Were in an okay position, it's not great. We seem to be missing a little bit of pace, we'll have to go back and understand why that is. I feel much more comfortable here than I did in St. Pete, so that's a positive sign for the weekend ahead."

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