PORTLAND, Oregon – IndyCar championship contender Josef Newgarden of Team Penske was the fastest driver in Friday’s 75-minute practice session for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland.
Newgarden’s No. 2 Chevrolet lapped the 12-turn, 1.964-mile Portland International Raceway road course in 58.5769 seconds.
The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion enters the weekend just three points behind teammate and 2014 champion Will Power with two races remaining in the championship.
“It was a strange day, odd red today, but we all waited it out, got on track and had a positive day to start the weekend,” Newgarden said afterwards. “I was really happy with our car and our start point. I felt like the test was very productive for us. We learned a lot about the track here specifically and different temperatures. That paid dividends today to start the weekend.
“I’m feeling confident going in tomorrow with Hitachi and Team Chevy and think we can have a good run in qualifying.”
Rookie David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing with HMD was second at 58.7024 in the No. 18 Honda. He finished second at the most recent IndyCar race at World Wide Technology Raceway on Aug. 20.
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin was third at 58.7156 in the No. 3 Freightliner Chevrolet followed by Andretti Autosport duo Alexander Rossi’s No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda at 58.7639 and Colton Herta’s No. 26 Gainbridge Honda at 58.8246.
The practice session was red-flagged for 1-hour, 21-minutes when one of the giant video boards on the frontstretch had a support fail, leaving it in danger of falling into the fence or onto the track. IndyCar and track safety workers were able to take down the board and secure it, so it was no longer a threat to safety.
IndyCar officials allowed the practice to run in its entirety. Fifty-one minutes remained when practice resumed.
Takuma Sato had a big hit in Turn 11 at 4:31 p.m. local time to bring out the second red flag of the practice session. His car left the course, skipped through the gravel trap and stuffed it into the tire barriers.
Helio Castroneves’ No. 06 Honda went off course at 4:45 p.m. to bring out the third red flag after he stopped in Turn 2.
It wasn’t long before the fourth red flag waved. This time, it was Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who went off in Turn 5 at 4:50 p.m. At that time, O’Ward had turned the fourth fastest practice session.
He was unable to continue for the rest of the session after his car was pushed behind the wall to expedite the removal process.
There were nine minutes left in the session when the green flag waved, setting up a frantic run to the end of the 75-minutes of interrupted track activity.