Montoya tops opening IndyCar practice on the streets of LB

Juan Montoya

As predicted in our morning write-up, Honda is much more competitive on the streets of Long Beach because mechanical grip is a bigger part of the equation here.

Juan Montoya topped the morning practice leading Penske-Chevy teammate Will Power giving Chevy a 1-2. However, Honda cars, led by Jack Hawksworth in third, were 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 9th. So the top-10 were split 50/50 between Chevy and Honda.

Two red flags interrupted the session.

Alexander Rossi crashed in Turn 8 bringing out the Red Flag for about 10 minutes. He had 3 old tires on and a new left front that caught him out and he went into the tire barrier damaging the left front suspension and wing.

The session ended under red when Charlie Kimball went off in Turn 1 with his brakes on fire.

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