The second practice session for the NTT IndyCar Series is in the books, and it was Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta that put in the fastest time of the session.
After finishing in second in the first practice run on Friday, Herta turned op the wick to complete a lap of the bumpy St. Pete street course in 1:00.0779, just outside the magic one-minute barrier.
Scott McLaughlin was the second fastest of the morning session, finishing just over one tenth of a second slower in his Team Penske Chevy.
Times got quicker towards the end of the 45-minute session as drivers fitted the softer Guayule rubber-based alternate tire for the first time, and as they found their confidence on the tricky course.
In the early laps Rinus VeeKay sat at the top of the timesheets, and Kyle Kirkwood was once again nearing to the top spot in his Andretti Autosport Honda.
The quick final laps by others pushed both drivers down the order a bit, but both look set to have a strong weekend result.
Sting Ray Robb found the wall in turn 3, in an incident that looked very similar to the crashes that happened in Friday’s practice.
The rookie lost control in the middle of the corner on account of the large bump on the street surface, and smashed his Dale Coyne Racing Honda hard into the concrete.
Later in the session, Scott Dixon found his own trouble despite being one of the most experienced drivers on the grid.
He lost control under braking into turn 4 and found the tire barriers, again similar to other incidents on the first day of running.
A few other drivers went off course as well, but none took damage to their machines. Romain Grosjean and Felix Rosenqvist were among the ones that needed to take time to get back on track.
The next session up is qualifying, and there is every indication that drivers will continue to find the barriers as they push even harder. The knockout qualifying session takes place at 2:15 PM Eastern Time.
