IndyCar Portland: McLaughlin tops FP2, Grosjean and Ilott clash

The New Zealander turned a flying lap of 58.1516s around the 1.964-mile, 12-turn natural terrain road course to take the top spot with 18 minutes remaining in the 45-minute session. He led a Team Penske 1-2, besting teammate Josef Newgarden by 0.1179s.

The outing was a night-and-day difference for Penske as a whole compared to Friday’s opening practice when McLaughlin, the defending race winner and pole-sitter, was 16th and Newgarden was 10th.

Despite spinning 10 minutes into the session, six-time series champion Scott Dixon ended up third overall, with Chip Ganassi Racing entry trailing 0.1269s behind. Graham Rahal quietly asserted his No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car in fourth, 0.1538s off McLaughlin’s pace-setter.

Championship leader Alex Palou (Ganassi) came across in the final spot of the top five, 0.2114s behind.

Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet

Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images

Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing), rookie Marcus Armstrong (Chip Ganassi Racing), Christian Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) finished up sixth through eighth, respectively. The Arrow McLaren duo of Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the rest of the top 10.

Colton Herta’s near-misses with the Turn 1 Armco eventually resulted in clipping the barrier with the right front during the session, which was followed by his Andretti Autosport crew looking over any potential issues in the aftermath. Herta ended up 14th overall.

The only red flag of the session was brought out with 14 minutes remaining by Sting Ray Robb, with the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR rookie stalling on-track in Turn 7 after a miscue on the exit of Turn 6.

The only significant drama came as the seconds ticked down. A brief moment in Turn 6 by Romain Grosjean allowed Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott to pull alongside.

The pair then banged wheels, with Grosjean sending Ilott off into the dirt before he returned to the track unharmed ahead of the checkered flag.

Grosjean’s No. 28 Andretti Autosport car logged a session-most 30 laps.

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

     

Driver Info			Main Information
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	S. McLaughlin Scott McLaughlin Team Penske	3	28	58.1516		121.586
2	J. Newgarden Josef Newgarden Team Penske	2	23	+0.1179	0.1179	121.340
3	S. Dixon Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	22	+0.1269	0.0090	121.321
4	G. Rahal Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	24	+0.1538	0.0269	121.265
5	A. Palou Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	25	+0.2114	0.0576	121.145
6	R. van Kalmthout Rinus van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21	24	+0.2298	0.0184	121.107
7	M. Armstrong Marcus Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	21	+0.3102	0.0804	120.941
8	C. Lundgaard Christian Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	21	+0.3216	0.0114	120.917
9	P. O'Ward Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	23	+0.3334	0.0118	120.893
10	F. Rosenqvist Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren	6	23	+0.3346	0.0012	120.890
11	A. Rossi Alexander Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	23	+0.3634	0.0288	120.831
12	W. Power Will Power Team Penske	12	26	+0.3745	0.0111	120.808
13	M. Ericsson Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing	8	26	+0.3850	0.0105	120.786
14	C. Herta Colton Herta Andretti Autosport	26	21	+0.3883	0.0033	120.779
15	D. Malukas David Malukas Dale Coyne Racing	18	20	+0.4453	0.0570	120.662
16	R. Grosjean Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport	28	30	+0.4808	0.0355	120.589
17	K. Kirkwood Kyle Kirkwood Andretti Autosport	27	24	+0.5516	0.0708	120.443
18	D. DeFrancesco Devlin DeFrancesco Andretti Autosport	29	25	+0.6279	0.0763	120.287
19	J. Vips Jüri Vips Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	24	+0.6524	0.0245	120.237
20	C. Ilott Callum Ilott Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	24	+0.7155	0.0631	120.108
21	H. Castroneves Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing	06	22	+0.7666	0.0511	120.004
22	R. Hunter-Reay Ryan Hunter-Reay Ed Carpenter Racing	20	24	+0.8723	0.1057	119.789
23	B. Pedersen Benjamin Pedersen A.J. Foyt Enterprises	55	27	+0.8886	0.0163	119.756
24	S. Ferrucci Santino Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	28	+0.9120	0.0234	119.708
25	A. Canapino Agustin Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78	26	+0.9819	0.0699	119.567
26	R. Robb Ray Robb Dale Coyne Racing	51	22	+1.1515	0.1696	119.225
27	T. Blomqvist Tom Blomqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	26	+1.1714	0.0199	119.185
View full results