INDIANAPOLIS – Will Power says the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s infield circuit is “probably my favorite road course.” It’s easy to see why.
The Team Penske driver, a two-time winner and pole sitter at the INDYCAR Grand Prix, was fastest in today’s second practice session to set himself up as the favorite to claim the pole again in Verizon P1 Award qualifying later this afternoon.
INDYCAR GRAND PRIX: Practice 2 results; Combined practice results; Round 1 qualifying groups
Driving the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Power navigated the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course in 1 minute, 9.8759 seconds (125.657 mph) to lead the field of 24 entries during the 45-minute session. Power also was fastest in the morning practice.
“I love this track,” Power said. “It's probably my favorite road course because it's so technical and smooth and European-like.
“But man, they're all corners that lead into complexes. You've got Turn 1-2, so there's give-and-take there, and then you've got the (Turns) 7-8-9 complex, which is really technical. Yeah, all the sets of complexes are all equally fun and interesting.”
Verizon IndyCar Series rookie Jordan King (shown above) continued to impress, running second in the second practice with a lap of 1:09.9122 (125.592 mph) in the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet. Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi was third in the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda with a lap of 1:09.9806 (125.469 mph).
Both pre-qualifying practices ran without incident.
The focus now shifts to the three rounds of knockout qualifying to determine the Verizon P1 Award pole winner. Action starts at 4:30 p.m. ET and streams live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com, youtube.com/indycar and the INDYCAR Mobile app.
This is the fifth annual INDYCAR Grand Prix. Power is the defending winner and was also victorious in 2015. His Team Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud won the other two races, in 2014 and ’16.
Saturday’s 85-lap race airs live on ABC and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network beginning at 3:30 p.m.