Helio Castroneves was fastest driver for the second Verizon IndyCar Series practice Saturday afternoon in his No.3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet with a time of 1:18.6582. That time would have placed him eleventh in the morning session.
Ryan Briscoe in No.8 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet was second. He said “The car was running well, and we have a lot of Japanese fans here this weekend. It’s going to be down to one good lap on the tires for qualifying
Third in practice two, and overall for the day so far, was Ryan Hunter-Reay, who was fastest in the morning session in No.28 DHL Andretti Autosport Honda. His speed in the morning session was 110.381 mph. Fourth and fifth in P2 were Scott Dixon’s No.9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, and Sonoma qualifying track record holder, Will Power in No.12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
The fastest Rookie was Carlos Munoz in No.34 Cinsay AndrettiTV.com HVM Andretti Autosport Honda, in eleventh place.
James Hinchcliffe had a moment, but he continued on after his spin.
Only Rookie Carlos Huertas was faster in the afternoon session, in No.18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda. Often times drivers in a variety of series find Sonoma Raceway getting slower as the day progresses. As with the morning session, the same drivers drove the fewest/most laps. Generally speaking, those drivers highest in the standings went out the latest and ran the fewest laps, which just so happened to put them up top.
In-between the two IndyCar practice sessions, all the drivers sat at tables in the IndyCar Fan Village, for the long queues of fans getting up close and personal with their faves.
Qualifying for the GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma is 4:35 pm PDT.