Tony Kanaan set the pace in practice for this weekend’s Iowa Corn 300 at Iowa Speedway, with the Chip Ganassi Racing driver leading a field that was spread by less than eight-tenths of a second.
The veteran Brazilian set a best time of 17.2197 seconds, just 0.0220 seconds faster than his countryman Helio Castroneves, who was the best placed of the Team Penske drivers.
Josef Newgarden continued his remarkable run by posting the third best time for Ed Carpenter Racing despite still suffering from his fractured clavicle suffered at the season’s previous oval of the year at Texas last month.
Kanaan’s team-mate Scott Dixon was fourth ahead of championship leader Simon Pagenaud, while Charlie Kimball made it three Chip Ganassi Racing entries inside the top six.
Sebastien Bourdais was seventh quickest in the sole KVSH Racing entry ahead of Ed Carpenter, while Ryan Hunter-Reay and Juan Pablo Montoya completed the top ten.
Hunter-Reay suffered a scare early in the session when he spun and hit the wall at turn four, breaking his rear wing assembly in the process, but his Andretti Autosport mechanics fixed his car in time for him to return to the track later in the session for more running.
Marco Andretti also found trouble at the same turn, but unlike team-mate Hunter-Reay, was able to keep his car out of the wall and was able to return to the pits under his own steam once the Holmatro Safety Crew had restarted his car.
Iowa Speedway Practice Result
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