IndyCar completed its second practice session on Saturday morning, and it was the sophomore driver Scott McLaughlin that topped the timesheets under the morning sun.
McLaughlin lapped the 1.8-mile temporary course in 59.734 seconds, the only driver to break under the one-minute mark.
Colton Herta finished second for the second consecutive session, just ahead of Simon Pagenaud who also continued his good pace on the opening weekend of the season.
The story of the session, however, was the multiple incidents that interrupted running and turned a productive day into a bad one for multiple teams.
The first red flag was for Jack Harvey, who clipped the inside wall at turn 9 and then went straight on into the barriers.
Later in the session, reigning champion Alex Palou did nearly the exact same thing. His Chip Ganassi Racing crew will have a lot of work to do in order to get ready for qualifying in just a couple hours’ time.
A larger incident also occurred between Romain Grosjean and Takuma Sato, with the former running into the back of the veteran Japanese driver.
Sato had to slow down for a train of cars in front of him who were all trying to get a gap on track to do a simulated qualifying run. When Grosjean approached at speed around a blind corner, he could not stop in time and ran directly into the slow-moving car.
All drivers were uninjured, but more costly damage was done than usual for a morning practice session.
Qualifying gets underway at 12:30PM Eastern Time, and with luck we will see all 26 cars back on track after repairs are completed.
