IndyCar Barber: VeeKay fastest as Grosjean and Power spin, Rossi crashes

Rossi’s shunt after 15 minutes was a strange one, the car fishtailing viciously on the exit of the final turn, despite not initially riding the curbs. The #27 Andretti car, which had been seventh fastest up to that point went onto the grass and smacked an unprotected part of the barrier, most heavily with its right-rear corner.

The top of the rear attenuator was torn off, and thrown across the track just as Rossi’s team-mate Helio Castroneves arrived on the scene, and the right-front tyre rode over the carbonfiber shard, picking up a puncture. Due to an IndyCar regulation meant that Castroneves would have to sit out the restarted session for five minutes, since he had required a tow-in. 

However, the Andretti #27 crew – and their colleagues from other cars – had a daunting prospect to rebuild the car and fit a new engine in time for qualifying, set to begin in under three hours after practice finished. 

That wasn’t the only off for the team, as Romain Grosjean, who was sitting atop the times, went long into the quick chicane at Turn 7, launched off a curb and spun in the gravel. The ex-F1 driver smartly let the car roll backward out of the run-off sand, kept the engine alive, and continued.  

Rinus VeeKay was the first driver to break the 1m06s barrier, turning a 1m05.9264s lap after he put on a set of Firestone’s alternate compound, but there was a second red when Will Power’s Penske spun off at the same spot as Grosjean.

Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport Honda (Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images)

There was a flurry of late improvements as everyone had to try out their alternates for the first time in the last seven minutes. Arrow McLaren SP Pato O’Ward, last year’s polesitter, came up just 0.0872s short of VeeKay’s marker, while Colton Herta jumped into third, displacing Penske’s pacesetter, Scott McLaughlin.  

Grosjean wound up fifth, ahead of a trio of Chip Ganassi Racing led by Alex Palou, while Callum Ilott’s superb form for Juncos Hollinger Racing continued with ninth fastest. Jack Harvey rounded out the top 10 with an encouraging run, 0.6324s off the ultimate pace. 

IndyCar Barber - FP2 results

P	Name	FTime	Diff	Laps	Speed (mph)	Engine	Tyre	Team
1	Rinus VeeKay	1:05.9264		15	125.595	Chevy	A	Ed Carpenter Racing
2	Pato O'Ward	1:06.0136	0.0872	18	125.429	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren SP
3	Colton Herta	1:06.0434	0.1170	22	125.372	Honda	P	Andretti Autosport
4	Scott McLaughlin	1:06.1233	0.1969	20	125.221	Chevy	A	Team Penske
5	Romain Grosjean	1:06.2170	0.2906	20	125.043	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport
6	Alex Palou	1:06.2217	0.2953	25	125.035	Honda	Ao	Chip Ganassi Racing
7	Marcus Ericsson	1:06.3982	0.4718	21	124.702	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
8	Scott Dixon	1:06.4093	0.4829	19	124.681	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
9	Callum Ilott	1:06.4217	0.4953	19	124.658	Chevy	P	Juncos Hollinger Racing
10	Jack Harvey	1:06.5588	0.6324	19	124.401	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
11	Josef Newgarden	1:06.6092	0.6828	21	124.307	Chevy	P	Team Penske
12	Graham Rahal	1:06.6366	0.7102	23	124.256	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
13	Conor Daly	1:06.7554	0.8290	19	124.035	Chevy	Ao	Ed Carpenter Racing
14	Kyle Kirkwood	1:06.8065	0.8801	18	123.940	Chevy	A	AJ Foyt Enterprises
15	Christian Lundgaard	1:06.8069	0.8805	22	123.939	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
16	Will Power	1:06.8251	0.8987	19	123.906	Chevy	A	Team Penske
17	David Malukas	1:06.8477	0.9213	20	123.864	Honda	A	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
18	Felix Rosenqvist	1:06.8540	0.9276	19	123.852	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren SP
19	Devlin DeFrancesco	1:06.9085	0.9821	18	123.751	Honda	A	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
20	Alexander Rossi	1:06.9384	1.0120	6	123.696	Honda	P	Andretti Autosport
21	Helio Castroneves	1:06.9884	1.0620	16	123.603	Honda	A	Meyer Shank Racing
22	Takuma Sato	1:07.0931	1.1667	23	123.411	Honda	P	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
23	Jimmie Johnson	1:07.2888	1.3624	22	123.052	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
24	Dalton Kellett	1:07.3606	1.4342	22	122.921	Chevy	A	AJ Foyt Enterprises
25	Simon Pagenaud	1:07.4104	1.4840	17	122.830	Honda	A	Meyer Shank Racing
26	Tatiana Calderon	1:08.5398	2.6134	18	120.806	Chevy	A	AJ Foyt Enterprises