It’s time to get more acquainted with the Washington street circuit as drivers brace themselves for IndyCar Practice 2. Earlier today, Andretti’s Kyle Kirkwood had set the pace in a mixed conditions Practice 1 session. The first outing also saw McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard crash.
IndyCar Practice 2 is green flagged in Washington
All three Andretti drivers immediately returned on track as soon as they could to take advantage of the full 40 minutes session. The first early benchmark was set by Josef Newgarden in 1:02.36. Simpson becomes the first driver to set a lap time in the 1:00s, but the Penske man then lowers it to a 59.401.
The grid immediately appears more at ease with the speedy, bumpy street circuit. Rasmussen becomes the first driver to lap in the 58s. Will the lowest lap time recorded today, a 57.3 earlier from championship contender Kirkwood, be lowered in this session already? It might happen, as less than 10 minutes into the session rookie Dennis Hauger sets a positive 58.06.
The weather appears to be much drier compared to the earlier on-track session. Luckily, rain is not appearing on radar for the session. Andretti continues to show strong potential at the Washington track, as latest race winner in Markham Ericsson sets a 57.59.
The first red flag of the session happened ten minutes into the session, as Rahal hit the wall at Turn 6, significantly damaging his RLL challenger. The dynamic of the accident was very similar to Schumacher’s earlier, with him running too fast over a bump, and also brought the experienced American’s Practice 2 to a close after only seven laps.
The action resumes!
Session resumed with 23 minutes left on the clock. ECR’s Rasmussen continued to show his strong form at the street track, going faster in 57.58. However, it is short lasted as VeeKay and Rossi replace him. His teammate set the fastest lap of the day thus far, on a 57.11.
Championship leader Alex Palou went fastest in 57.105. Potentially, he could be crowned IndyCar champion this weekend already if the Ganassi man has a perfect weekend and some of his main rivals don’t perform well.
Pato O’Ward had a tight moment at what can be already called the infamous Turn 6 too, but the Arrow McLaren driver managed to keep his car off the wall, with Rasmussen too almost colliding with the wall.
With eight minutes left in the session, Foster caused the second red flag of the weekend. In fact, he crashed out at the same spot of his teammate before. In this case, the Brit bounced at the inner corner too, damaging his front wheel too and causing the session to stop. The accident is even more unfortunate for the RLL driver. Foster has been nursing a foot injury following his heavy crash at Markham.
The session restarted shortly after, as Foster was able to drive his car back to the pits without the front wing. In the latest moments of the session, McLaughlin snatched the top spot with a strong 56.89. Palou and Rossi complete the provisional podium, whereas Kirkwood, Lundgaard, Armstrong, Rasmussen, Siegel, Power and Ericsson rounding off the top ten of the entire grid segment of Practice 2.
Group 1 for IndyCar Practice 2 in Washington is on track
The first 12-minutes segment of the session saw Lundgaard out on track first. Malukas set the first 59 of the segment, with Dixon going faster in 57.899. Rookie Collet too had a strong attempt, settling in P2 in 58.14.
Palou went fastest again in 56.614, with Arrow McLaren’s Siegel joining him in the 56s too. McLaren as a whole is bracing for a strong weekend, as Lundgaard joins his teammate on the provisional podium in P3. Rossi joins the group of drivers at the top with a lap in the 56s.
In the final moments of the group session, Siegel ran deep into the Turn 6 runoff.
Group 2 returns on track
Power immediately dives wide at the Turn 6 runoff on his out lap, but is able to resume his session smoothly.
Kirkwood set the early benchmark in 57.7, improving it to 56.8 too, with McLaughlin moving up to P2 with a strong 56.9. ahead of Ericsson, with the fastest lap time in the 57s. O’Ward steals P2 by setting a 56.87. The championship contender is definitely out for blood, even more so following his late Markham mistake, which saw him end the race in P21.
Power makes slight contact with the wall at Turn 6, running fast over the high bump. In spite of the issues, he continues to drive boldly, heading into the runoff for the third time, now at Turn 1.
Kirkwood leads Group 2 from O’Ward and McLaughlin, with the Andretti duo of Ericsson and Power completing the top 5.
