In the third and final practice before the Grand Prix of Louisiana, it’d be Scott Dixon topping the charts in his Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon would lap the 2.74-mile, 13-turn road course in one minute and 18.5538 seconds.
Of the three practices this weekend, Dixon’s lap marks the quickest of the weekend. To some, it marks a surprise as Team Penske dominated the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, but Ganassi has shown speed all weekend with Tony Kanaan leading practice yesterday.
Team Penske is still showing speed, though, as Simon Pagenaud was second quickest, 0.581 seconds behind. Pagenaud finished fifth last weekend in his debut with Team Penske after making the switch during the off-season.
Rookie Gabby Chaves was third quickest for Bryan Harta Autosport as he makes move up to the Verizon IndyCar Series following a championship in Indy Lights.
“Everybody on the team has been doing a great job,” he commented. “We’ve had a lot of progression over the first weekend, and testing. We had a plan and it was just about getting the right amount of laps and miles to keep the learning going.”
He added that the learning curve from Indy Lights to IndyCar hasn’t been easy as the two cars are completely different with the IndyCars featuring more downforce. However, he believes that he can do well given the team behind him.
Grand Prix of St. Petersburg pole sitter and Team Penske driver Will Power was fourth quickest, followed by CGR rookie Sage Karam.
Andretti Autosport sophomore Carlos Munoz was sixth quickest, followed by Josef Newgarden, Tony Kanaan, Charlie Kimball and Sebastian Bourdais. Bourdais is coming off of a strong sixth place finish at St. Petersburg.
The practice didn’t go well for everybody, though, as three different drivers got off track during the practice. Helio Castroneves got off the track early in practice in turn one, with Kanaan going off track in the same spot after getting sideways over the bump coming off the corner. James Hinchcliffe was the final driver to go around, spinning in turn six at the end of practice.
While some have shown speed, other drivers have struggled – including Simona de Silvestro, who is making her second start with Andretti Autosport.
“We’re struggling a little bit to be honest,” she commented. “We haven’t had a set of clean laps on new tires yet today. It’s frustrating because it’s just not there right now. Hopefully we can lean a little bit on Carlos and Ryan, and see what we can learn from that.”
She added that her struggles are partially based on having no laps on the track coming into the weekend, as she wasn’t able to take part in the pre-season test. As a result, she’s been leaning on her teammate Munoz, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti to get better. With the three practices under her belt now, though, she feels that she understands the track and now it’s getting the right set-up underneath her.
The Verizon IndyCar Series will return to the NOLA Motorsports Park course this evening at 5:15 pm EST for qualifying.
