Will Power is proving to be the man to beat when it comes to preparing for Saturday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix of Indianapolis at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
After being fastest in Friday’s first practice session for the GP this morning, Power roared right back to be fastest in the afternoon session, as well.
That’s not surprising since he not only is the defending winner of the GP, but has also won it twice (2015 and 2017).
Power covered the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course with a top speed of 125.657 mph (at 1 minute, 9.8759 seconds).
Rookie Jordan King, who was third-fastest in the morning practice, proved that was no fluke, as he was second-fastest in the afternoon practice (125.592 mph at 1:09.9122).
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2016 Indy 500 champ Alexander Rossi, who was second-fastest in the morning practice, slipped one spot to be third-fastest in the afternoon session (125.469 mph at 1:09.9806).
Rookie Robert Wickens was fourth-fastest (125.296 mph, 1:10.0773), followed by the other two-time winner of the Grand Prix (2014 and 2016), Simon Pagenaud (125.296 mph, 1:10.0775), Power’s Team Penske teammate.
Sixth through 10th were Helio Castroneves (125.275 mph, 1:10.0891), Sebastien Bourdais (125.242 mph, 1:10.1072), Spencer Pigot (125.193 mph, 1:10.1347), Tony Kanaan (125.033 mph, 1:10.2248) and 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series champ Josef Newgarden (125.027 mph, 1:10.2279).
Now Power and the rest of the 24-driver field prepare for qualifying for tomorrow’s race later this afternoon, starting at 4:30 p.m. ET.
The fifth annual INDYCAR Grand Prix of Indianapolis will take the green flag Saturday afternoon at 3:40 p.m. ET.