McLaughlin Stays on Top

Photo by Kyle McInnes

Scott McLaughlin continues to pace the Indycar field at Portland after the second practice. McLaughlin turned a lap 0f 58.8605 seconds this morning under cool conditions. David Malukas was just two hundredths of a second behind. Malukas will serve a six spot grid penalty for the race.

The field is quite tight. 26 of the 28 cars were within seven tenths of the leader. Only Felix Rosenqvist and Toby Sowery were more than a second behind the leader.

Felix Rosenqvist had a wild ride over the turn 1 curbing, captured by Peacock. He is now just two hours short of getting his pilot’s license.

Three red flags stopped the session briefly, but the field id get the full 45 minutes of green flag time allotted. Will Power spun and stalled in the first five minutes of the session. Sting Ray Robb went off track in turn 11 and went nose first into the tire barrier. Toby Sowery went off tack requiring a stoppage near the end of the session.

Qualifying begins at 12:30 pm Pacific Time.

Results

Notes

Get your spotters guide handy. There are nine cars this weekend with a shade of red and white liveries here. Several cars, notably the number 14, are in a livery that is a complete departure from their usual colors.

It is warming up quickly, and conditions for qualifying should near ideal.