Christian Lundgaard continued to show why the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course is one of his favorite tracks in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, as he led the second practice Friday for the Sonsio Grand Prix.
Lundgaard’s top lap was 1 minute, 9.5588 seconds in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He earned his first career NTT P1 Award at this race last May and qualified fourth on this 14-turn, 2.439-mile circuit in his INDYCAR SERIES debut in August 2021.
SEE: Practice Results
Will Power, a five-time race winner on this road course, climbed from third in the morning practice to second in this session with a top lap of 1:09.6899 in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet. Power is the only driver in the top five in both practices today.
“We haven’t changed much,” Power said. “We’re still where we were. I think it definitely will be a red (Firestone Firehawk alternate tires) race.”
Two-time series champion Power is working this month without his strategist, Ron Ruzewski, and data engineer Robbie Atkinson. Both were suspended by Team Penske for this event and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, along with team president Tim Cindric, for their roles in the Push to Pass violations found on Power’s No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet and the cars of teammates Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin.
Six-time series champion Scott Dixon was third at 1:09.8565 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. McLaughlin ended up fourth at 1:09.8648 in the No. 3 Sonsio Team Penske Chevrolet.
Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top five at 1:09.8965 in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda.
Marcus Armstrong and Graham Rahal, slowed by mechanical problems in the first session, rallied to end up seventh and ninth, respectively.
Colton Herta, who led the first session at 1:09.2863, slipped to 15th at 1:10.1878 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda of Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian.
Up next is NTT P1 Award qualifying at 4:20 p.m. ET today. Competition should be tight for the pole, as less than one second separated the top 22 drivers in the 27-car field in both practices.
Live coverage of the 85-lap race starts at 3 p.m. ET Saturday on NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR LIVE and the INDYCAR Radio Network.