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Will Power fastest in first IndyCar practice session in Houston

Will Power topped a busy opening practice session for this weekend's IndyCar double-header at Reliant Park in Houston

The Australian was the 'two' in a Helio Castroneves-led Penske one-two during a sedate opening half of the session, but as the times picked up over the final 20 minutes, the leader changed six times before Power made it his own with a 1m00.4427s lap at the end.

Simon Pagenaud, who was among those to enjoy a brief stint in P1, was left to settle for second-fastest with a time 0.2s down on Power's.

Sebastien Bourdais was third, while Takuma Sato and Tony Kanaan rounded out the top five.

Luca Filippi, making his first appearance of the year in the second Rahal Letterman Lanigan entry, finished the morning 12th-fastest, putting himself just ahead of Marco Andretti.

The only major incident came early on, when Scott Dixon slowed with a mechanical problem and was hit from behind by Graham Rahal, who was able to complete the session after pitting for a new nosecone.

That accident coincided with a brief red flag, which was triggered to allow track workers to cut away a troublesome section of rubber sealant between two sections of the concrete surface.

Pos  Driver              Team/Engine      Time        Gap
 1.  Will Power          Penske/Chevy     1m00.4427s
 2.  Simon Pagenaud      Schmidt/Honda    1m00.6956s  +0.2529s
 3.  Sebastien Bourdais  KV/Chevy         1m00.7700s  +0.3273s
 4.  Takuma Sato         Foyt/Honda       1m00.7901s  +0.3474s
 5.  Tony Kanaan         Ganassi/Chevy    1m00.8355s  +0.3928s
 6.  Helio Castroneves   Penske/Chevy     1m00.8357s  +0.3930s
 7.  James Hinchcliffe   Andretti/Honda   1m00.8914s  +0.4487s
 8.  Scott Dixon         Ganassi/Chevy    1m00.8939s  +0.4512s
 9.  Justin Wilson       Coyne/Honda      1m00.9191s  +0.4764s
10.  Ryan Briscoe        Ganassi/Chevy    1m01.1070s  +0.6643s
11.  Mikhail Aleshin     Schmidt/Honda    1m01.1261s  +0.6834s
12.  Luca Filippi        Rahal/Honda      1m01.3157s  +0.8730s
13.  Marco Andretti      Andretti/Honda   1m01.3371s  +0.8944s
14.  Charlie Kimball     Ganassi/Chevy    1m01.3920s  +0.9493s
15.  Graham Rahal        Rahal/Honda      1m01.3927s  +0.9500s
16.  Carlos Munoz        Andretti/Honda   1m01.4399s  +0.9972s
17.  Josef Newgarden     Fisher/Honda     1m01.5740s  +1.1313s
18.  Ryan Hunter-Reay    Andretti/Honda   1m01.6523s  +1.2096s
19.  Jack Hawksworth     Herta/Honda      1m01.8558s  +1.4131s
20.  Sebastian Saavedra  KV/Chevy         1m01.9171s  +1.4744s
21.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Penske/Chevy     1m02.0613s  +1.6186s
22.  Mike Conway         Carpenter/Chevy  1m02.5256s  +2.0829s
23.  Carlos Huertas      Coyne/Honda      1m02.8000s  +2.3573s

All drivers use Dallara chassis

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