On Saturday morning, the field of IndyCar drivers set out to take a second stab at tackling the new downtown Detroit street course.
It was not long, however, until the first red flag of the session was thrown for a stuck car. It was the first of many.
Drivers did their best to navigate the red flags and dodge other cars on the busy track, looking for a qualifying simulation as best they could.
When time expired, Scott Dixon had laid down the fastest time of the morning. He completed the 1.7-mile course in 1:03.2317.
Times were slightly slower than yesterday despite the extra rubber laid down on track, and that was mostly due to the harder black walled tires being used all morning.
Will Power was the second fastest of the day, and he was followed by Kyle Kirkwood in third.
Marcus Armstrong was again the fastest rookie, this time breaking into the top 10 with the eighth fastest time of the morning.
Just like the day before, there were multiple incidents that brought out the red flag. Many who ran long in the runoff areas were able to get going on their own, but many others were not.
Josef Newgarden, Rinus VeeKay, Alex Palou, and Colton Herta all required assistance from the track crew to get their cars re-fired.
There was one larger crash when Devlin DeFrancesco stuffed his Andretti Autosport Honda into the barriers at the exit of turn 7.
That particular corner is one of bumpiest on the downtown course, and gives the low-riding Dallara chassis a workout.
DeFrancesco lost control while navigating the bumps, and damaged his car heavily when he smacked the concrete barrier.
His Andretti crew will have to hurry to make repairs before qualifying, which takes place three hours after the conclusion of practice.
In all, there were five red flags that interrupted the session, and drivers lost valuable track time during the cleanup.
A typical knockout qualifying session is scheduled for 1:15 PM this afternoon, although continued stoppages could make it anything but typical.
Discussion about this post