A blistering lap time from Josef Newgarden saw the Ed Carpenter Racing driver end the second free practice session of the Belle Isle weekend at the top of the time sheets.
The young American charger set a time of 1:14.6464 during Saturday morning’s pre-race session, 0.1855 seconds faster than second placed Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing.
Newgarden will start the race down in fourteenth after a difficult qualifying session on Friday, but will be buoyed by the result of the free practice session as the first race of the double-header weekend beckons later in the day.
Behind Dixon in second was Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay, who after a heated discussion with team-mate Marco Andretti after yesterday’s qualifying when the latter claimed the former cost him time. Hunter-Reay in fact had been delayed by Sebastien Bourdais before delaying his team-mate, but the two drivers put their spat behind them to both finish in the top six in practice.
Race one pole sitter Simon Pagenaud was the only other driver to break through the 1:14 second barrier, with the Team Penske driver setting a time of 1:14.9979, with team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya in fifth ahead of Andretti.
Conor Daly was an impressive seventh for Dale Coyne Racing ahead of KVSH Racing’s Bourdais, while the top ten was completed by front row starter Helio Castroneves and by Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
Belle Isle Free Practice 2 Result
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