Graham Rahal led an RLL clean sweep in the second practice session for the Sonsio GP.
Most of the field took to the track at the start of second practice of the Sonsio GP. A slightly longer session of 35 minutes, the cars began to stack up out of the pits immediately.
Within minutes, the lap times had started to tumble. Multiple changes occurred at the top of the timesheets as drivers started to find their confidence.
Scott Dixon became the first person to run wide, though was able to continue. Nolamn Siegel continued to impress, jumping to the top of the times early on, continuing to impress. He also became the first driver to put a set of soft tyres on.
Robert Schwartzan’s trying weekend continued. A fuel pump failure kept him in the pits, as the field kept on putting in the laps.
With 20 minutes to go, Simpson had the P1 spot, with Alex Palou running in second place. Big hitters Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Kyle Kirkwood rounded off the top four. This order did not lost last eld began to change again,
Scott Mclaughlin had an understated first half of the session at the Sonsio GP, rooted to the bottom of the times. Sting Ray Robb then became a surprise pace-setter, his lap-time close to penetrating the 1:09 barrier. Palou remained a watchful vigil in second.
McLaughlin awoke from his slumber as the session entered its final 15 minutes. He seemed to be on a different programme to the rest, still over a second ahead of the next slowest car. His next fastest lap took him up one position. He ran wide at Turn 1, indicating all was not well in the cockpit.
Robb, Siegel and Louis Foster Jacob Abel and Conor Daly all opted for soft tyres, affecting how to read the competitive order. What was clear however, was Kyffn Simpson’s third best time set on hard tyres marked him out as someone to watch.
Final ten minutes of Sonsio GP practice
As the clock counted down to the end of the first half of the session, the field badly needed a caution free session.
All drivers behaved themselves, and with no on track stoppages, those who made it out of the garages gained valuable data.
Foster on his soft tyres, completed a qualifying run and duly jumped to the top of the timesheets. Team-mate DeFrancesco joined him, also on soft tyres to complete an RLL one-two.
The top four were all on the alternate soft tyres. Graham Rahal then completed the RLL clean sweep as he jumped to the top of the time.s
Kyle Kirkwood provided on track entertainment for the crowd, as he spun, flatspotting his tyres. His session was now over. McLaughlin took to the track in the closing minutes but still could not find pace as he struggled with grip and balance.
The paddock did not expect an RLL clean sweep as the session ended. With a vast array of tyre strategies in play, including none of the championship contenders running softs, qualifying would be an interesting spectacle.
Classification
- Graham Rahal
- Louis Foster
- Devlin DeFrancesco
- Sting Ray Robb
- Conor Daly
- Alexander Rossi
- Alex Palou
- Kyffin Simpson
- Nolan Siegel
- Callum Illot
- Christian Lundgaard
- Christian Rasmussen
- Will Power
- Pato O’Ward
- Rinus Veekay
- Felix Rosenqvist
- Scott Dixon
- Jacob Abel
- Josef Newgarden
- Marcus Armstrong
- Marcus Ericsson
- Kyle Kirkwood
- David Malukas
- Colton Herta
- Scott McLaughlin
- Santino Ferrucci
