A few hours before starting first Saturday night at Iowa Speedway (8:30 p.m., NBCSN), Josef Newgarden was first in NTT IndyCar Series practice at the 0.894-mile oval.
The defending series champion’s No. 1 Dallara-Chevrolet turned a 170.199 mph lap in the lone session at Iowa, leading Friday night winner Simon Pagenaud, points leader Scott Dixon (second in Friday’s race), Tony Kanaan and Takuma Sato.
Rounding out the top 10 were Alexander Rossi, Felix Rosenqvist, Graham Rahal, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Conor Daly.
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The rest of the top 15 were: Marcus Ericsson, Alex Palou, Colton Herta, Rinus VeeKay and Pato O’Ward. Herta and VeeKay were involved in a violent crash Friday night, but both drivers were uninjured and back in fresh cars Saturday.
The @FollowAndretti crew worked until 1 a.m. to get @ColtonHerta’s #88 ready for #IndyCar250s race two today.
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 18, 2020
Colton says he feels great and is excited for a second chance at the win @iowaspeedway. He starts 5th today. pic.twitter.com/ykVEUDf8Do
.@rinusveekay was also checked and cleared after last night’s on-track incident.
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 18, 2020
The #21 is back on track for practice this morning. He’ll start 15th in #IndyCar250s race two. @iowaspeedway // @ECRIndy pic.twitter.com/xaR2KZ6bhT
Santino Ferrucci turned the most laps (104) in the one-hour session but ranked 22nd of 23 drivers in practice.
Others who were deep on the speed chart during IndyCar Iowa practice Saturday: Oliver Askew 21st (after a career-best third in Frdiay night’s race), Will Power 20th (after crashing Friday night).
There were no major incidents in practice. Pagenaud missed the first 15 minutes of the session as his team worked out some fuel pressure bugs (which kept his car from starting for qualifying Friday).
.@Team_Penske says the #22 crew found a few things they didn’t like back in the garage this morning, so they took some extra time to work out the bugs.
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) July 18, 2020
With about 45 minutes left in practice, the #IndyCar250s race one winner is now suiting up for some laps @iowaspeedway pic.twitter.com/jDg7jEnm7n
Dixon also brushed the wall near the midpoint of practice but avoided major damage to his No. 9 Dallara-Honda.
Click here for the speeds from practice Saturday afternoon at Iowa.
Click here for the combined speeds from practice Friday and Saturday at Iowa.