St. Pete: Pagenaud tops opening IndyCar practice

Simon Pagenaud

Penske Racing's Simon Pagenaud turned the fastest lap in opening practice for the 2016 IndyCar season on the streets of St. Petersburg. A.J. Foyt Racing's Jack Hawksworth was second, a mere six-hundredths behind Pagenaud, with Team Penske's Helio Castroneves third. Takuma Sato and Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top-five.

Two-time Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg winner Will Power brought out a red flag midway through the session with a crash in turn 9. The #12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet sustained significant damage to the right suspension.

The Verizon IndyCar Series will be back on track at 3:40 p.m. this afternoon for practice 2.

Results

Pos	No	Name	Time	Diff	Gap	FL	Laps	Speed	Engine
1	22	Simon Pagenaud	1:01.725	0.000	0.000	13	19	104.982	Chevy
2	41	Jack Hawksworth	1:01.787	0.0624	0.0624	12	20	104.876	Honda
3	3	Helio Castroneves	1:01.805	0.0805	0.0181	5	11	104.846	Chevy
4	14	Takuma Sato	1:01.841	0.1165	0.0360	5	15	104.785	Honda
5	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1:01.873	0.1488	0.0323	7	16	104.730	Honda
6	9	Scott Dixon	1:01.962	0.2376	0.0888	7	18	104.580	Chevy
7	10	Tony Kanaan	1:01.997	0.2721	0.0345	6	23	104.522	Chevy
8	2	Juan Pablo Montoya	1:02.096	0.3718	0.0997	8	13	104.354	Chevy
9	83	Charlie Kimball	1:02.147	0.4225	0.0507	7	19	104.269	Chevy
10	26	Carlos Munoz	1:02.155	0.4300	0.0075	4	18	104.256	Honda
11	27	Marco Andretti	1:02.158	0.4335	0.0035	10	16	104.250	Honda
12	11	Sebastien Bourdais	1:02.162	0.4375	0.0040	8	18	104.244	Chevy
13	5	James Hinchcliffe	1:02.184	0.4592	0.0217	5	18	104.207	Honda
14	21	Josef Newgarden	1:02.237	0.5120	0.0528	12	19	104.119	Chevy
15	15	Graham Rahal	1:02.242	0.5169	0.0049	6	18	104.111	Honda
16	19	Luca Filippi	1:02.288	0.5635	0.0466	18	18	104.033	Honda
17	12	Will Power	1:02.435	0.7105	0.1470	4	5	103.788	Chevy
18	98	Alexander Rossi	1:02.590	0.8651	0.1546	6	22	103.531	Honda
19	16	Spencer Pigot	1:02.835	1.1108	0.2457	24	27	103.127	Honda
20	18	Conor Daly	1:02.927	1.2023	0.0915	20	26	102.977	Honda
21	7	Mikhail Aleshin	1:03.281	1.5562	0.3539	19	21	102.401	Honda
22	8	Max Chilton	1:03.381	1.6562	0.1000	33	34	102.239	Chevy