Sonoma IndyCar: Ryan Hunter-Reay fastest in first practice session
Ryan Hunter-Reay set the pace in the opening practice session for this weekend's IndyCar race at Sonoma
The Andretti driver claimed the top spot with a best lap of 1m18.6814s, a scant 0.01 seconds faster than closest rival Helio Castroneves' Penske entry.
Dario Franchitti, who topped the times in Wednesday's open test, was third-fastest ahead of Marco Andretti.
Ryan Briscoe, still recovering from the wrist injury that sidelined him at Mid-Ohio, returns to the cockpit for Panther Racing this weekend and led the middle phase of the session before finishing up with the fifth-best time.
Former Panther driver JR Hildebrand was ninth-fastest in his first session with Bryan Herta Autosport.
Series debutant Lucas Luhr survived one brief off-track moment at Turn 2 in the second Sarah Fisher Hartman entry and finished up 25th, 2.2s off Hunter-Reay's time.
The morning was interrupted just once by red flags when the session was briefly stopped to allow a stray tyre to be retrieved from Turn 9.
Pos Driver Team/Engine Time Gap 1. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Chevy 1m18.6814s 2. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 1m18.6976s +0.0162s 3. Dario Franchitti Ganassi/Honda 1m18.8124s +0.1310s 4. Marco Andretti Andretti/Chevy 1m18.9740s +0.2926s 5. Ryan Briscoe Panther/Chevy 1m19.0182s +0.3368s 6. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 1m19.0318s +0.3504s 7. Sebastien Bourdais Dragon/Chevy 1m19.0834s +0.4020s 8. EJ Viso Andretti/Chevy 1m19.0976s +0.4162s 9. JR Hildebrand Herta/Honda 1m19.1567s +0.4753s 10. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Chevy 1m19.1968s +0.5154s 11. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 1m19.3398s +0.6584s 12. Will Power Penske/Chevy 1m19.4268s +0.7454s 13. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 1m19.4952s +0.8138s 14. James Jakes Rahal/Honda 1m19.4977s +0.8163s 15. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Honda 1m19.5009s +0.8195s 16. Tristan Vautier Schmidt/Honda 1m19.5590s +0.8776s 17. Sebastian Saavedra Dragon/Chevy 1m19.5990s +0.9176s 18. Simona de Silvestro KV/Chevy 1m19.6014s +0.9200s 19. James Davison Coyne/Honda 1m19.7624s +1.0810s 20. Tony Kanaan KV/Chevy 1m19.8950s +1.2136s 21. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 1m19.9330s +1.2516s 22. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 1m20.0155s +1.3341s 23. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Honda 1m20.2088s +1.5274s 24. Ed Carpenter Carpenter/Chevy 1m20.2279s +1.5465s 25. Lucas Luhr Fisher/Honda 1m20.9336s +2.2522s
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