Tony Kanaan returned AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet to a position of prominence with fastest time in the only practice session for tomorrow’s ABC Supply 500 at Pocono Raceway.
Following a rained out morning practice and qualifying session at the famed 2.5-mile ‘Tricky Triangle’ tri-oval in Long Pond, PA, a two-hour practice ran incident-free as teams focused purely on raceday setups.
And while the cancelation of qualifying will mean Kanaan will have to start from 19th– the grid is set according to entrant points – the 2004 series champion and 2013 Indy 500 winner can at least console himself in the knowledge he has a fast car in the draft.
The 44-year-old veteran lapped the course at 216.354mph, and should he get up front in the race, he’ll be happy to learn he had fifth fastest time of the laps set without the aid of a tow.
Second fastest was his former Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda teammate Scott Dixon, who won the race here in 2013 when IndyCar made its return after a 24-year hiatus. He was 0.6mph slower, just bumping impressive rookie Santino Ferrucci of Dale Coyne Racing down to third in the final five minutes.
Championship contender and defending Pocono winner Alexander Rossi also showed well, with fourth overall and sixth on the no-tow charts to head the Andretti Autosport-Honda brigade.
Despite missing 40mins at the start of the session with gear-selection issues, Simon Pagenaud was fifth overall and second fastest in the no-tows, while his teammates Josef Newgarden – who will start P1 tomorrow – and Will Power – a two-time winner here – were only 17thand 20th. However, they were within the top 10 on no-tows.
Rookie Colton Herta’s Harding Steinbrenner Racing-Honda was sixth quick ahead of the Coyne with Vasser-Sullivan car of Sebastien Bourdais.
Series returnee Charlie Kimball – who will make his fourth of five scheduled starts this year for Carlin Racing-Chevrolet – was very impressive in eighth ahead of 2015 Pocono winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Graham Rahal who appeared to make a breakthrough late in the session to grab 10th.
Weather allowing, the race is due to get the green flag at 2.45pm local (Eastern) time tomorrow.
| Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Gap | Interval | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Tony Kanaan |  A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 55 | 216.354 | ||
| 2 |  Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing | 70 | 0.1144 | 0.1144 | 215.761 |
| 3 | Santino Ferrucci | Dale Coyne Racing | 73 | 0.1888 | 0.0744 | 215.377 |
| 4 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport | 63 | 0.1895 | 0.0007 | 215.373 |
| 5 |  Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske | 65 | 0.1906 | 0.0011 | 215.368 |
| 6 | Colton Herta | Harding Racing | 69 | 0.1963 | 0.0057 | 215.338 |
| 7 | Sébastien Bourdais | Dale Coyne Racing | 74 | 0.2102 | 0.0139 | 215.267 |
| 8 | Charlie Kimball |  Carlin | 62 | 0.2975 | 0.0873 | 214.818 |
| 9 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport | 71 | 0.3356 | 0.0381 | 214.623 |
| 10 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 77 | 0.3367 | 0.0011 | 214.617 |
| 11 |  Felix Rosenqvist | Chip Ganassi Racing | 83 | 0.3490 | 0.0123 | 214.554 |
| 12 | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport | 66 | 0.3618 | 0.0128 | 214.489 |
| 13 |  James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 78 | 0.3822 | 0.0204 | 214.385 |
| 14 | Conor Daly | Carlin | 67 | 0.3903 | 0.0081 | 214.343 |
| 15 | Matheus Leist | A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 69 | 0.4017 | 0.0114 | 214.285 |
| 16 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport | 58 | 0.4062 | 0.0045 | 214.262 |
| 17 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske | 70 | 0.4235 | 0.0173 | 214.174 |
| 18 |  Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 61 | 0.4275 | 0.0040 | 214.154 |
| 19 | Marcus Ericsson | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports | 69 | 0.4309 | 0.0034 | 214.136 |
| 20 |  Will Power | Team Penske | 81 | 0.4670 | 0.0361 | 213.953 |
| 21 | Spencer Pigot | Ed Carpenter Racing | 66 | 0.4750 | 0.0080 | 213.912 |
| 22 | Ed Carpenter | Ed Carpenter Racing | 57 | 0.6141 | 0.1391 | 213.207 |
| View full results | ||||||
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