Ryan Hunter-Reay led the opening practice session of the 2011 IndyCar season at St. Petersburg on Friday, with the Andretti Autosport driver setting a time of 1:04.1437 to finish ahead of Will Power and team-mate Mike Conway who is making his official return after a nasty accident during last season's Indy 500 left him sidelined.
Sunny conditions welcomed the drivers as they made their way out on-track at 10.15 local time(GMT -4), allowing for lots of vital information to be gathered ahead of this afternoon’s second practice hour. James Jakes was the man complete the most amount of mileage during the session, lapping the 1.8-mi (2.9-km) circuit 31 times.
Scott Dixon was next up behind the leading trio of Hunter-Reay, Power and Conway, and the Ganassi driver will be hoping to repeat the victory he secured at the Homestead-Miami Speedway during last year’s final race. Australia’s Ryan Briscoe ended his time at the wheel in fifth, finishing the session 0.118 seconds ahead of current Champion Dario Franchitti.
Helio Castroneves followed closely, and was the last of the Penske runners on the timesheets. The only drama of the session came during the final few minutes, when KV Racing driver E.J. Viso ran into a wall during the opening sector of the lap. Marco Andretii and ex-Minardi F1 driver Justin Wilson concluded the top ten runners.
Friday’s second practice session begins at 3pm local time (GMT -4)
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IndyCar Series
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Ryan Hunter-Reay
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Andretti Autosport
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  R. Hunter-Reay | Andretti | 01:04.143 | 14 |
| 2. | W. Power | Penske | 01:04.182 | 20 |
| 3. | M. Conway | Andretti | 01:04.222 | 15 |
| 4. | S. Dixon | Chip Ganassi | 01:04.318 | 16 |
| 5. | R. Briscoe | Penske | 01:04.352 | 16 |
| 6. | D. Franchitti | Chip Ganassi | 01:04.364 | 17 |
| 7. | H. Castroneves | Penske | 01:04.421 | 18 |
| 8. | E.J. Viso | Lotus KV Racing | 01:04.539 | 17 |
| 9. | M. Andretti | Andretti | 01:04.667 | 17 |
| 10. | J. Wilson | D&R Racing | 01:04.711 | 15 |
| Full results | ||||
| Ryan Hunter-Reay | |||
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