Hinchcliffe tops opening IndyCar practice in Long Beach
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| James Hinchcliffe |
Practice 1 on the streets of Long Beach saw James Hinchcliffe top the time sheet with a lap of 1 minute, 9.8110 seconds. Last April, the Andretti Autosport driver in the No. 27 entry was quickest in the opening session the 1.968-mile, 11-turn course at 1:08.9187. One notable difference is that the team switched to the twin-turbocharged Honda engine this season.
Eight different teams were represented in the top 10, and the top 17 cars were separated by less than a second.
Helio Castroneves, driving the No. 3 AAA Southern California Team Penske car, was 0.1795 of a second behind Hinchcliffe. Justin Wilson in the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing car was third (1:10.0080) and Ryan Hunter-Reay was fourth (1:10.0340) in the No. 28 DHL car for Andretti Autosport.
Drivers also were practicing for the standing start — the first of the season and the first at Long Beach since 2008 — for the 80-lap race April 13.
A second 45-minute practice is scheduled for 5 p.m. (ET).
Results
| Driver | No. | Time | Speed | Laps | Difference | Gap |
| James Hinchcliffe | 27 | 01:09.8110 | 101.485 | 17 | –.—- | –.—- |
| Helio Castroneves | 3 | 01:09.9905 | 101.225 | 14 | 0.1795 | 0.1795 |
| Justin Wilson | 19 | 01:10.0080 | 101.2 | 12 | 0.1970 | 0.0175 |
| Ryan Hunter-Reay | 28 | 01:10.0340 | 101.162 | 9 | 0.2230 | 0.0260 |
| Josef Newgarden | 67 | 01:10.0648 | 101.118 | 8 | 0.2538 | 0.0308 |
| Will Power | 12 | 01:10.1677 | 100.97 | 15 | 0.3567 | 0.1029 |
| Jack Hawksworth | 98 | 01:10.1970 | 100.927 | 21 | 0.3860 | 0.0293 |
| Mike Conway | 20 | 01:10.2077 | 100.912 | 18 | 0.3967 | 0.0107 |
| Simon Pagenaud | 77 | 01:10.2235 | 100.889 | 11 | 0.4125 | 0.0158 |
| Tony Kanaan | 10 | 01:10.2343 | 100.874 | 10 | 0.4233 | 0.0108 |
| Marco Andretti | 25 | 01:10.2514 | 100.849 | 15 | 0.4404 | 0.0171 |
| Takuma Sato | 14 | 01:10.2518 | 100.849 | 16 | 0.4408 | 0.0004 |
| Sebastien Bourdais | 11 | 01:10.3638 | 100.688 | 13 | 0.5528 | 0.1120 |
| Juan Pablo Montoya | 2 | 01:10.4651 | 100.543 | 16 | 0.6541 | 0.1013 |
| Oriol Servia | 16 | 01:10.5054 | 100.486 | 16 | 0.6944 | 0.0403 |
| Scott Dixon | 9 | 01:10.5225 | 100.462 | 10 | 0.7115 | 0.0171 |
| Sebastian Saavedra | 17 | 01:10.8040 | 100.062 | 15 | 0.9930 | 0.2815 |
| Graham Rahal | 15 | 01:10.8436 | 100.006 | 17 | 1.0326 | 0.0396 |
| Carlos Munoz | 34 | 01:10.9255 | 99.891 | 16 | 1.1145 | 0.0819 |
| Ryan Briscoe | 8 | 01:10.9501 | 99.856 | 7 | 1.1391 | 0.0246 |
| Charlie Kimball | 83 | 01:11.0411 | 99.728 | 16 | 1.2301 | 0.0910 |
| Mikhail Aleshin | 7 | 01:11.1709 | 99.546 | 15 | 1.3599 | 0.1298 |
| Carlos Huertas | 18 | 01:11.3577 | 99.286 | 19 | 1.5467 | 0.1868 |