Oilpressure

The first two practices at Road America are in the books. It’s always hard to tell if a Friday practice is indicative of what we will see in qualifying and the race, or if it is a case of teams sorting out their cars and not really out to show speed.

If they are out for speed, it may be a good weekend for Andretti Autosport, as they led both practice sessions. Ryan Hunter-Reay led the first session with a time of 1:43.756 and then Alexander Rossi paced the afternoon session with a time of 1:43.121. Both drivers were within the Top-Seven in the other practice that they did not lead, so there is some consistency there. Marco Andretti was a respectable tenth fastest in both sessions, while Zach Veach struggled in the morning, but improved to twelfth in the afternoon.

Team Penske’s Will Power and Josef Newgarden both had stellar practice sessions. They were both in the Top-Five in the morning session and both in the Top-Three in the afternoon session. Simon Pagenaud was seventh-quick this morning, but was mired down in fifteenth this afternoon.

Scott Dixon was third quick in Practice One, but was only eleventh fastest in Practice Two. Felix Rosenqvist was only fifteenth quickest this morning, but improved to fifth fastest this afternoon.

AJ Foyt Enterprises has been under the gun to improve their dreadful performance as of late. There was a glimmer of hope when Tony Kanaan posted the twelfth fastest time this morning, but he slid down to seventeenth for the afternoon. Matheus Leist was eighteenth and sixteenth in both sessions.

Jack Harvey has had a Friday to forget. His engine went silent in the morning practice, requiring a tow-in. Then just before that practice ended, he went off as his car went through the Turn Twelve runoff area and into the tire barriers. He was twenty-second this morning and twenty-third this afternoon. There is nowhere to go, but up for the part-time driver that has had mostly good outings when he has run.

After struggling in the morning practice, most of the rookies excelled in the afternoon session. Aside from Rosenqvist being fifth fastest; Colton Herta was fourth quick, while Pato O’Ward was ninth fastest. But Rookie of the Year leader, Santino Ferrucci was nineteenth in the morning session and twentieth in the afternoon.

I took a ten-second video during the afternoon session. As you can tell, I didn’t really do it for the video, because you can hardly tell that it is Will Power. I did it for the pure sound of a car going down the main straightaway at Road America. You’re welcome.

That’s going to do it for us today. Wisconsin is famous for their Friday Night Fish Fries, so we are going to a place we went to two years ago on Lake Winnebago – Schmitty’s Oar House Bar and Grill. I have vivid memories of our meal there and am looking forward to going back.

I will close with a few pictures that Susan took during both IndyCar practices today. We will be back at the track tomorrow morning, so please check back then.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on June 21, 2019 at 6:14 pm and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.