Auto News 5

Current IndyCar champion Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti) and runner-up Will Power (Penske) dominated each Friday practice sessions for this weekend St Petersburg season opener but the Australian was the one who set the fastest time at the end of the day.

Still, Hunter-Reay was a mere 0.1785s behind while Simona de Silvestro showed that she was at ease in her new KV Racing car by finishing third. The Swiss driver finished up 0.06s off Hunter-Reay's time.

Oriol Servia (Panther/DRR) was fourth-fastest, just ahead of Takuma Sato (AJ Foyt Racing), who was the best of the Honda-powered entries.

The Ganassi squad had somewhat of a quiet start with Charlie Kimball leading the team with the 13th-best lap, leaving Dario Franchitti 17th and Scott Dixon 19th.


Morning session
1.  Ryan Hunter-Reay - 1m02.4534s
2.  James Hinchcliffe - 1m02.4544s  + 0.0010s
3.  Will Power - 1m02.5464s  + 0.0930s
4.  EJ Viso - 1m02.5759s  + 0.1225s
5.  Tony Kanaan - 1m02.6114s  + 0.1580s
6.  Dario Franchitti - 1m02.6823s  + 0.2289s
7.  Simona de Silvestro - 1m02.6950s  + 0.2416s
8.  Josef Newgarden - 1m02.7308s  + 0.2774s
9.  Sebastien Bourdais - 1m02.8867s  + 0.4333s
10.  Marco Andretti - 1m02.9252s  + 0.4718s
(...)


Afternoon session
1.  Will Power - 1m01.4467s
2.  Ryan Hunter-Reay - 1m01.6252s  + 0.1785s
3.  Simona de Silvestro - 1m01.6895s  + 0.2428s
4.  Oriol Servia - 1m01.7650s  + 0.3183s
5.  Takuma Sato - 1m01.7703s  + 0.3236s
6.  Helio Castroneves - 1m01.7853s  + 0.3386s
7.  Tony Kanaan - 1m01.8087s  + 0.3620s
8.  James Hinchcliffe - 1m02.0039s  + 0.5572s
9.  Tristan Vautier - 1m02.0459s  + 0.5992s
10.  Marco Andretti - 1m02.0877s  + 0.6410s
(...)