Defending Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach race winner Josef Newgarden in the No.2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet led race day warm-up ahead of today’s second street race of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. The Tennessee native set the fastest time of 01:06.5611s ending the 30-minute session ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi in the No.7 Chevrolet with a time of 01:06.7540s.
Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Andretti Autosport Honda ended the session in third place with a time of 01:06.8118s, while Scott Dixon in the No,9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Hona ended the session in fourth place with a 01:07.0286s.
Pole-sitter Kyle Kirkwood in the No.27 AutoNation Andretti Autosport Honda rounded out the top five with a time of 01:07.0492s while Simon Pagenaud in the No.60 AutoNation Sirius XM Honda for Meyer Shank Racing was sixth with a time of 01:07.1783s ending the morning just ahead of Rinus VeeKay in the No.21 BitNile Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet who has been struggling with pace all weekend.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson in the No.8 Huski Chocolate Honda and Alex Palou in the No.10 RIdgeline Lubricants Honda were eighth and ninth, respectively, while Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top ten in the No.3 Sonsio Team Penske Chevrolet.
Helio Castroneves in the No.06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda was 11th with a time of 01:07.3962s while Jack Harvey who celebrated his 30th Birthday on Saturday was 12th in the No.30 Kustom Entertainment RLL Honda setting a time of 01:07.4416s.
Callum Ilott was 13th for Juncos Hollinger Racing with a time of 01:07.4538s just ahead of Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward in the No.5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
It was a great session for AJ Foyt Racing’s Benjamin Pedersen in the No.55 Sexton Properties Chevrolet as he was 15th with a time of 01:07.5953s.
Graham Rahal in the No.15 United Rentals Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was 16th just ahead of Marcus Armstrong and Christian Lundgaard. Romain Grosjean was 19th in the No.28 DHL Honda with a time of 01:07.9318s just ahead of his teammate Devlin DeFrancesco and David Malukas while Felix Rosenqvist was 23rd just ahead of Santino Ferrucci.
Defending series champion Will Power in the No.12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet was 25th just ahead of Sting Ray Robb while Agustin Canapino rounded out the order in 27th place.