Armstrong tops Palou in second Portland IndyCar practice

The final practice session ahead of qualifying provided more glimpses into who’s found single-lap speed and in longer race-day runs as Chip Ganassi Racing and its technical affiliate Meyer Shank Racing took the top four spots Saturday morning at the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland.

It was MSR’s Marcus Armstrong who went fastest with a 58.298s tour in the No. 66 Honda on Firestone’s stickier alternate compound that will get plenty of use this afternoon in qualifying, and behind him, it was CGR’s Alex Palou in the No. 10 Honda (58.610s) as the quickest driver on the harder primary tires. CGR’s Scott Dixon shadowed Palou in the No. 9 Honda (58.640s) and MSR’s Felix Rosenqvist was just as close in the No. 60 Honda (58.669s) on primaries as well. Team Penske’s David Malukas was the best among the Bowtie drivers in the No. 12 Chevy (58.746s) and Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson completed the top six in the No. 28 Honda (58.772s).

The opening 40-minute session for the full field saw Louis Foster pick up where he left off on Friday and maintain his impressive pace to lead the group for most of the outing (58.860s). Nolan Siegel shot to second (58.903s) to represent more of IndyCar’s next-generation talent at the top of the chart and Rinus VeeKay joined the growing club of those who clobbered the inside barrier at Turn 1 and did damage to their cars.

Once repairs were made, he leapt to third (58.931s). In the final minute of the session as drivers performed new-tire runs, Will Power moved to the top (58.828s) in front of Christian Lundgaard (58.840s) and moved Foster, Siegel, and VeeKay down to third through fifth, respectively.

In the first split-group session where half of the field had the track for 12 minutes of running, Armstrong was well clear of everyone after performing a qualifying simulation on Firestone’s alternate tires (58.298s) and Palou was second on primaries (58.610s).

In the second split-group outing, it was a late run by Rosenqvist that took first place (58.669s) ahead of Ericsson (58.772s).

Qualifying is set for 7pm ET.

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