IndyCar: O’Ward tops Practice 2 at Road America

Pato O’Ward was the quickest driver during practice Saturday morning for the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR, turning a top lap of 1 minute, 45.2681 seconds in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

“We did a lot of really good work overnight,” O’Ward said. “We got her in the window. It feels a lot better than it did yesterday. Yesterday was really messy.

“It’s such a long track where if you’re really struggling with a balance issue, you’re going to lose so much. But if you have something you’re comfortable with and you can hustle, it’s obviously rewarding. We’re looking forward to qualifying. Who knows what reds (Firestone alternate tires) are going to do?”

Will Power was second quickest at 1:45.3849 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, followed by reigning series champion Alex Palou at 1:45.4062 in the No. 10 The American Legion Honda.

Alexander Rossi, quickest Friday at 1:45.6027, was fourth this morning at 1:45.5576 in the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS/AutoNation Honda. He spent a considerable amount of time in the pits during the 45-minute session with a clutch problem.

Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden was fifth at 1:45.5744 in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet.

Practice 2 Times

Pos No Name Time Diff Gap Laps Speed Engine Team
1 5 Pato O’Ward 1:45.2681 0.000s 0.000s 12 137.272 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
2 12 Will Power 1:45.3849 0.1168 0.1168 14 137.120 Chevy Team Penske
3 10 Alex Palou 1:45.4062 0.1381 0.0213 11 137.093 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
4 27 Alexander Rossi 1:45.5576 0.2895 0.1514 10 136.896 Honda Andretti Autosport
5 2 Josef Newgarden 1:45.5744 0.3063 0.0168 13 136.874 Chevy Team Penske
6 26 Colton Herta 1:45.7664 0.4983 0.1920 14 136.626 Honda Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian
7 8 Marcus Ericsson 1:45.8079 0.5398 0.0415 12 136.572 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
8 28 Romain Grosjean 1:46.0022 0.7341 0.1943 15 136.322 Honda Andretti Autosport
9 3 Scott McLaughlin 1:46.0373 0.7692 0.0351 15 136.277 Chevy Team Penske
10 9 Scott Dixon 1:46.0617 0.7936 0.0244 14 136.245 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
11 7 Felix Rosenqvist 1:46.0998 0.8317 0.0381 14 136.196 Chevy Arrow McLaren SP
12 30 Christian Lundgaard 1:46.1046 0.8365 0.0048 16 136.190 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
13 06 Helio Castroneves 1:46.2389 0.9708 0.1343 11 136.018 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
14 60 Simon Pagenaud 1:46.2553 0.9872 0.0164 10 135.997 Honda Meyer Shank Racing
15 18 David Malukas 1:46.2816 1.0135 0.0263 11 135.963 Honda Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
16 77 Callum Ilott 1:46.4851 1.2170 0.2035 13 135.703 Chevy Juncos Hollinger Racing
17 20 Conor Daly 1:46.5240 1.2559 0.0389 14 135.654 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
18 29 Devlin DeFrancesco 1:46.5438 1.2757 0.0198 12 135.629 Honda Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
19 15 Graham Rahal 1:46.6307 1.3626 0.0869 15 135.518 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
20 21 Rinus VeeKay 1:46.6619 1.3938 0.0312 10 135.479 Chevy Ed Carpenter Racing
21 45 Jack Harvey 1:46.8522 1.5841 0.1903 14 135.237 Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
22 51 Takuma Sato 1:46.9109 1.6428 0.0587 13 135.163 Honda Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
23 48 Jimmie Johnson 1:47.8402 2.5721 0.9293 14 133.998 Honda Chip Ganassi Racing
24 4 Dalton Kellett 1:47.9272 2.6591 0.0870 15 133.890 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
25 14 Kyle Kirkwood 1:48.1562 2.8881 0.2290 5 133.607 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
26 11 Tatiana Calderon 1:48.1969 2.9288 0.0407 14 133.557 Chevy AJ Foyt Enterprises
27 16 Simona De Silvestro 1:48.4582 3.1901 0.2613 13 133.235 Chevy Paretta Autosport

 

Qualifying Groups

Group 1

12   Power, Will

27   Rossi, Alexander

26   Herta, Colton

28   Grosjean, Romain

9    Dixon, Scott

30   Lundgaard, Christian

60   Pagenaud, Simon

77   Ilott, Callum

29   DeFrancesco, Devlin

21   VeeKay, Rinus

51   Sato, Takuma

4    Kellett, Dalton

11   Calderon, Tatiana

Group 2

5    O’Ward, Pato

10   Palou, Alex

2    Newgarden, Josef

8    Ericsson, Marcus

3    McLaughlin, Scott

7    Rosenqvist, Felix

06   Castroneves, Helio

18   Malukas, David

20   Daly, Conor

15   Rahal, Graham

45   Harvey, Jack

48   Johnson, Jimmie

14   Kirkwood, Kyle

16   De Silvestro, Simona