Will Power paced the field in final practice at Pocono Raceway on Saturday as Team Penske finally showed some pace this weekend at the ‘Tricky Triangle’.
The Australian, the defending Pocono race winner, set the best time of the session of 41.6100s to lead team-mate and defending series champion Simon Pagenaud by just 0.0217 seconds.
Third and fourth respectively were Chip Ganassi Racing duo Max Chilton and Tony Kanaan, while the other two Team Penske cars were inside the top six, with Helio Castroneves fifth despite crashing during his qualifying effort earlier in the day, and championship leader Josef Newgarden sixth.
Marco Andretti was the best of the Andretti Autosport drivers in seventh ahead of Dale Coyne Racing’s Esteban Gutierrez, who continues to improve as he attacks his first superspeedway this weekend, while Sebastian Saavedra, racing this weekend for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports following Mikhail Aleshin’s departure from the team, was ninth.
Alexander Rossi completed the top ten for Andretti Herta Autosport, just ahead of Takuma Sato, who secured pole position earlier in the day for Andretti Autosport, and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports’ James Hinchcliffe.
Ed Carpenter turned his first laps since his crash during the first practice session that prevented him from attempting a qualifying effort, but Ryan Hunter-Reay was absent after his own crash during qualifying, with the American having been transported to hospital for further checks after complaining of a painful hip.
Pocono Raceway Free Practice 2 Result
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