After posting the fastest time during Wednesday’s practice session, Marco Andretti continued his strong week of practice by posting the fastest time of “Fast Friday,” the penultimate practice session before Saturday’s qualification begins.
“The car is close in race trim; I don’t know how much better we can get it,” Andretti said. “But (qualifying) trim alone, I’m not pleased with the car speed right now. I think we’re right on the bubble of the top nine, to be honest.”
Along with earning the top spot on the speed charts, Andretti also was given a $10,000 check from the Harding Group for his fast lap during the session.
Robert Wickens finished the session in second, 0.0117-seconds off of Andretti. Ed Carpenter finished the session in third while Oriol Servia and Will Power rounded out the top five.
Sebastien Bourdais finished the session in sixth followed by the A.J. Foyt Racing teammates of Tony Kanaan and Matheus Leist. Stefan Wilson and Alexander Rossi rounded out the top ten.
The session was slowed by an incident involving James Davison. Davison spun as he exited turn two and made hard left-side contact with the outside wall. Davison walked away uninjured but his car was a different story. His A.J. Foyt with Byrd/Hollinger/Belardi entry will need to be repaired overnight if Davison hopes to qualify on Sunday.
Pre-qualifying practice is slated for 8 a.m. start time on Saturday with live streams on RaceControl.IndyCar.com, youtube.com/indycar, and the INDYCAR Mobile app. Qualifying begins at 11 a.m. on WatchESPN and will continue on ABC beginning at 4 p.m. ET.
Sunday’s session is slated to begin at 2:30 on WatchESPN and will continue and conclude on ABC at 4 p.m. ET.
About the author
His favorite tracks on the circuit include Barber Motorsports Park, Iowa Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Talladega Superspeedway, Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, and Bristol Motor Speedway.
During the season, Christian also spends time as a photographer with multiple other outlets shooting Monster Energy AMA Supercross, Minor League & Major League Baseball, and NCAA Football.
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