WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. – Posting the fastest lap every session thus far in practice for the INDYCAR Grand Prix at The Glen presented by Hitachi, Scott Dixon paced the final session ahead of this afternoon’s Verizon P1 Award qualifying, where the track record is expected to be beaten possibly six seconds.
Dixon’s best lap of 1 minute, 22.8008 seconds (146.520 mph) highlighted a session where all 22 cars again surpassed the official track record of 1:28.1332, set by Ryan Briscoe in 2009. Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet) has posted the fastest lap in all three sessions this weekend.
CLICK HERE: Practice 3 results; Combined practice results; Qualifying groups
Verizon P1 Award knockout qualifying for the penultimate race of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season commences at 3 p.m. ET. A live video stream is available on RaceControl.IndyCar.com and a same-day NBCSN telecast airs at 6 p.m.
Dixon was followed closely in this morning’s practice by Team Penske’s Will Power. The No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet driver, second in the point standings to teammate Simon Pagenaud, was just five-hundredths of a second behind Dixon at 1:22.8546 (146.425 mph).
Four-time Indy car champion Sebastien Bourdais (No. 11 Hydroxycut-KVSH Racing Chevrolet, 1:22.9492) was third, followed by recently named “Dancing with the Stars” contestant James Hinchcliffe (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda, 1:22.9797) and AJ Foyt Racing’s Jack Hawksworth (No. 41 ABC Supply Honda, 1:23.0205), who has shown promising speed this weekend.
The session was paused twice for red flags. The first came 15 minutes into the session when Josef Newgarden spun into the Turn 7 tire barrier, damaging the rear of the No. 21 Fuzzy’s Ultra Premium Vodka/ECR Chevrolet. Newgarden was uninjured but a lengthy clean-up of debris led series officials to add five minutes onto the end of the session.
“It was an error,” said Newgarden. “All good. The car is relatively OK, I think. It wasn’t as bad a hit as it could have been around here. There’s going to be some work and you always feel bad when you put work on the team that’s unnecessary.”
Newgarden turned just six laps in the session, with his best lap of 1:24.5195 (142.854 mph), 22nd quick,.
The second red flag came out when Takuma Sato slid and came to a stop in the Turn 9 runoff without inflicting any damage on the No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda.
Championship leader Pagenaud was 14th quick in the No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet at 1:23.6876. Pagenaud leads Power by 28 points in the standings, with a total of eight drivers still mathematically alive in the title hunt.
Following qualifying this afternoon, only a 30-minute warmup (10:30 a.m. ET Sunday) remains ahead of the 60-lap race. NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network have live race coverage beginning at 2 p.m. ET Sunday.
Practice 3 results are below:
|
Rank
|
Car
|
Driver Name
|
C/A/E/T
|
Time
|
Speed
|
Diff
|
Gap
|
Best Lap
|
Total Laps
|
|
1
|
9
|
Dixon, Scott
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:22.8008
|
146.520
|
--.----
|
--.----
|
8
|
17
|
|
2
|
12
|
Power, Will
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:22.8546
|
146.425
|
0.0538
|
0.0538
|
14
|
14
|
|
3
|
11
|
Bourdais, Sebastien
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:22.9492
|
146.258
|
0.1484
|
0.0946
|
13
|
13
|
|
4
|
5
|
Hinchcliffe, James
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:22.9797
|
146.204
|
0.1789
|
0.0305
|
16
|
16
|
|
5
|
41
|
Hawksworth, Jack
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:23.0205
|
146.133
|
0.2197
|
0.0408
|
15
|
15
|
|
6
|
20
|
Pigot, Spencer (R)
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:23.0808
|
146.027
|
0.2800
|
0.0603
|
11
|
17
|
|
7
|
15
|
Rahal, Graham
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:23.1159
|
145.965
|
0.3151
|
0.0351
|
20
|
20
|
|
8
|
7
|
Aleshin, Mikhail
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:23.1918
|
145.832
|
0.3910
|
0.0759
|
10
|
15
|
|
9
|
83
|
Kimball, Charlie
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:23.2093
|
145.801
|
0.4085
|
0.0175
|
21
|
21
|
|
10
|
8
|
Chilton, Max (R)
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:23.2371
|
145.752
|
0.4363
|
0.0278
|
16
|
16
|
|
11
|
3
|
Castroneves, Helio
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:23.3824
|
145.498
|
0.5816
|
0.1453
|
16
|
16
|
|
12
|
98
|
Rossi, Alexander (R)
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:23.3917
|
145.482
|
0.5909
|
0.0093
|
6
|
16
|
|
13
|
10
|
Kanaan, Tony
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:23.3983
|
145.471
|
0.5975
|
0.0066
|
9
|
15
|
|
14
|
22
|
Pagenaud, Simon
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:23.6876
|
144.968
|
0.8868
|
0.2893
|
13
|
20
|
|
15
|
14
|
Sato, Takuma
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:23.7290
|
144.896
|
0.9282
|
0.0414
|
3
|
12
|
|
16
|
18
|
Daly, Conor (R)
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:23.7471
|
144.865
|
0.9463
|
0.0181
|
16
|
17
|
|
17
|
2
|
Montoya, Juan Pablo
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:23.7518
|
144.857
|
0.9510
|
0.0047
|
12
|
17
|
|
18
|
28
|
Hunter-Reay, Ryan
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:23.8222
|
144.735
|
1.0214
|
0.0704
|
13
|
15
|
|
19
|
26
|
Munoz, Carlos
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:24.1315
|
144.203
|
1.3307
|
0.3093
|
15
|
15
|
|
20
|
19
|
Enerson, RC (R)
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:24.2774
|
143.953
|
1.4766
|
0.1459
|
12
|
12
|
|
21
|
27
|
Andretti, Marco
|
D/H/H/F
|
01:24.4164
|
143.716
|
1.6156
|
0.1390
|
16
|
16
|
|
22
|
21
|
Newgarden, Josef
|
D/C/C/F
|
01:24.5195
|
143.541
|
1.7187
|
0.1031
|
4
|
6
|
(R) Rookie (C)hassis: D=Dallara | (A)erokit: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)ire: F=Firestone
Total Laps: 341