Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet was the first driver under 60sec during final practice – effectively, race warm-up – running a 59.6586sec, which equates to 118.514mph around this 1.964-mile road course in Portland, Oregon.
However, he was beaten by 0.2sec by Josef Newgarden of Team Penske-Chevy who qualified second and will start eighth due to his grid penalty for taking his fifth engine of the season.
Alex Palou, the sole Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda driver to start tomorrow’s race in the Top 15 (a very healthy sixth, in fact) then moved to the top with a 59.2196, while Penske’s Will Power moved into third.
Callum Ilott hit the grass but moved up to fourth behind Palou, Newgarden and Power in the Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevy.
Then with seven minutes to go, it was Andretti Autosport-Honda’s Alexander Rossi who clocked top time, the ninth-place starter turning a 59.0532sec lap – 119.729mph.
Rookie Christian Lundgaard, the best non-Penske in qualifying – moved his Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda into second place, 0.1274sec off Rossi,
Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, whose Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolets will start sixth and seventh tomorrow, ended final practice in the Top 10, separated from each other by Ilott, and Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda.
In the final five minutes, Scott Dixon, Ganassi’s six-time champion, jumped into the top five between Newgarden and Power.
A few drivers – including Scott McLaughlin, who took pole in the #3 Freightliner Penske – practiced exiting Turn 12 on the inside per IndyCar’s new starting procedure https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/news/indycar-listens-responds-to-drivers-over-portland-start/10363148/ and holding it all the way down to Turn 1.
Several more practiced running through the chicanes within the Turn 1 / Turn 2 chicane, in preparation for should the worst happen at some point in the race tomorrow.
The Grand Prix of Portland will begin at 12.30pm local (Pacific) time on Sunday, Sept. 4.
P |
Name |
FTime |
Diff |
FL |
Laps |
FSpeed |
Engine |
Team |
1 |
Alexander Rossi |
59.0532 |
- |
15 |
22 |
119.729 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
2 |
Christian Lundgaard |
59.1806 |
0.1274 |
19 |
25 |
119.472 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
3 |
Alex Palou |
59.2196 |
0.1664 |
10 |
25 |
119.393 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
4 |
Josef Newgarden |
59.2662 |
0.2130 |
15 |
27 |
119.299 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
5 |
Scott Dixon |
59.2731 |
0.2199 |
22 |
24 |
119.285 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
6 |
Will Power |
59.3594 |
0.3062 |
11 |
27 |
119.112 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
7 |
Pato O'Ward |
59.4285 |
0.3753 |
19 |
25 |
118.973 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren SP |
8 |
Callum Ilott |
59.4479 |
0.3947 |
15 |
21 |
118.934 |
Chevy |
Juncos Hollinger Racing |
9 |
Graham Rahal |
59.4676 |
0.4144 |
23 |
25 |
118.895 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
10 |
Felix Rosenqvist |
59.4701 |
0.4169 |
16 |
28 |
118.890 |
Chevy |
Arrow McLaren SP |
11 |
David Malukas |
59.4752 |
0.4220 |
20 |
22 |
118.880 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing with HMD |
12 |
Scott McLaughlin |
59.4759 |
0.4227 |
12 |
27 |
118.878 |
Chevy |
Team Penske |
13 |
Takuma Sato |
59.5207 |
0.4675 |
22 |
23 |
118.789 |
Honda |
Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR |
14 |
Romain Grosjean |
59.5916 |
0.5384 |
17 |
22 |
118.648 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport |
15 |
Rinus VeeKay |
59.6586 |
0.6054 |
9 |
20 |
118.514 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
16 |
Colton Herta |
59.7024 |
0.6492 |
16 |
22 |
118.427 |
Honda |
Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian |
17 |
Jack Harvey |
59.7264 |
0.6732 |
17 |
24 |
118.380 |
Honda |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing |
18 |
Kyle Kirkwood |
59.7321 |
0.6789 |
11 |
26 |
118.369 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
19 |
Marcus Ericsson |
59.8543 |
0.8011 |
17 |
19 |
118.127 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
20 |
Devlin DeFrancesco |
59.9174 |
0.8642 |
9 |
20 |
118.002 |
Honda |
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
21 |
Simon Pagenaud |
59.9213 |
0.8681 |
20 |
21 |
117.995 |
Honda |
Meyer Shank Racing |
22 |
Helio Castroneves |
59.9685 |
0.9153 |
21 |
21 |
117.902 |
Honda |
Meyer Shank Racing |
23 |
Conor Daly |
1:00.5090 |
1.4558 |
8 |
20 |
116.849 |
Chevy |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
24 |
Dalton Kellett |
1:00.6119 |
1.5587 |
22 |
24 |
116.650 |
Chevy |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
25 |
Jimmie Johnson |
1:00.6663 |
1.6131 |
26 |
26 |
116.546 |
Honda |
Chip Ganassi Racing |