Rinus VeeKay took his Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy to the top spot in Saturday morning practice from Barber Motorsports Park.
The Dutch driver was happy with his car’s performance on the softer red tires, and is in good shape for qualifying later in the day.
Pato O’Ward lapped the undulating circuit less than a tenth of a second slower than VeeKay, and is also primed to fight for his second consecutive pole on the 2.38-mile course.
Just as was the case on Friday, Andretti Autosport looked fast in the morning session. Romain Grosjean topped the timesheets halfway through the session, despite taking a quick spin through the gravel at one point.
Alexander Rossi, however, was not able to keep his car out of the barriers. His spin took place in an uncommon location coming onto the front straight, and ended up backing his Honda into the wall with force.
The Californian was uninjured, but his crew will have to work hard to get his car back into top shape for qualifying in just under two hours’ time.
Helio Castroneves collected some of the debris as he drove past the wreck, but his car didn’t take any damage and he finished out the session once the green flag was waved again.
Will Power also took a spin off course, but was able to get going again with assistance and only stopped the session for a few minutes.
Marcus Ericsson’s Chip Ganassi Racing crew had to do some last minute work on his clutch before the session, but appeared to solve the problem just in time. The veteran ended the session in a solid seventh.
A knockout qualifying session takes place in just a couple hours, and will set the grid for Sunday’s race.
