Early Saturday morning was reserved for IndyCar’s second practice, and all 27 cars took to the Portland race course to prepare their cars for qualifying later in the day.
Once again, Scott McLaughlin was the fastest driver of the session, completing a lap in 58.8605 seconds.
The Team Penske driver has been locked in all weekend, and he does not show any signs of slowing down.
David Malukas turned the second fastest time, placing his Meyer Shank Racing Honda high on the timing screens.
Josef Newgarden put a second Team Penske car in the top three with a lap that was fractionally slower than those ahead.
The entire field was very close, with the top 10 drivers all within 0.145 seconds. In fact, the top 25 were all within a second of each other, setting up a showdown for the knockout qualifying runs later in the day.
There were a few stoppages as drivers pushed the limit to find out exactly how fast their cars were capable of going.
Will Power brought out the first red flag of the session, losing control and spinning between Turns 11 and 12.
He expertly slowed the car down through the grass and brought his #12 entry to a sliding stop moments before impacting the barriers. He needed assistance to get going again, but no damage was done.
A few minutes later, in the same corner, Sting Ray Robb also lost control while traversing the high-speed right hander.
He was not quite so lucky, and his AJ Foyt Racing Chevy spun all the way around and impacted the nose into the tire wall.
A quick front wing change is all that was needed, and Robb was also able to continue later in the session.
Felix Rosenqvist had a big moment in Turn 1, clipping the inside wall as he pushed the limits of the tricky turn.
The impact broke his right front suspension and sent him over the curbing inside of Turn 2, which bounced him over a foot into the air.
He was able to drive his damaged car around to the pit lane, but he had to climb from his car as bigger repairs were made.
After missing most of Friday’s running due to a fuel pressure issue, Conor Daly was able to complete 26 laps during the 45-minute run.
He lacked pace, however, and was only able to manage the 25th best time.
Knockout qualifying begins at 12:30 Pacific Time, just over two hours after the conclusion of the morning’s practice.
