Takuma Sato led an AJ Foyt Enterprises one-two during second practice at the Barber Motorsports Park on Friday ahead of team-mate Jack Hawksworth.
The session had started out in damp conditions following a storm that had hit the track just after the opening session, with the early laps tricky for drivers as the track surface dried, but it was the Foyt duo who found themselves at the top of the time sheets.
Veteran Japanese racer Sato set a best time of 1m07.2157s to finish just 0.0040s ahead of his British team-mate Hawksworth as the top nineteen drivers were covered by less than one second.
Less than three hundredths of a second back in third was James Hinchcliffe for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports ahead of Team Penske’s Will Power, while Graham Rahal finished the session in fifth for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Josef Newgarden placed sixth for Ed Carpenter Racing ahead of two more drivers from the Penske stable, with championship leader Simon Pagenaud ahead of team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya, while reigning series champion Scott Dixon was ninth for Chip Ganassi Racing ahead of Sebastien Bourdais of KVSH Racing.
Power and Bourdais were amongst the drivers to run off track due to the conditions but both were able to continue, with only Charlie Kimball of Chip Ganassi Racing and Alexander Rossi of Andretti Herta Autosports outside of one-second of Sato’s time.
Barber Motorsports Park Free Practice 2 Times
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