There were 1,560 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 412,638 in the last 365 days.

Hunter-Reay Leads Honda Field in Friday Practice at Sonoma

  • Ryan Hunter-Reay ends opening day at Sonoma Raceway in fifth
  • Watkins Glen race winner Alexander Rossi runs sixth
  • Championship contender Scott Dixon posts seventh-fastest time

Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon – the drivers who completed an all-Honda podium two weeks ago at Watkins Glen – led the way for Honda today in practice at Sonoma Raceway for Sunday's season finale GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma.

Hunter-Reay, third at the most recent Verizon IndyCar Series round at Watkins Glen, was quickest for Honda today and fifth overall on the time sheets.  His Andretti Autosport teammate, 'Glen winner Alexander Rossi, ended the day sixth overall. 

Scott Dixon, second at the Glen and in the thick of the battle for the Verizon IndyCar Drivers' Championship, ended the day seventh.  All were within just 34 one-hundredths of a second of Josef Newgarden's pace-setting time of one minute,16.2485 seconds around the 2.385-mile Sonoma Raceway circuit.  Dixon trails Newgarden by only three points as the series heads into Sunday's double-points season finale.  Activities at Sonoma continue tomorrow, with final practice and qualifying.  Coverage of Sunday's 85-lap championship-deciding race starts at 3:30 p.m. EDT, live on the NBC Sports Network.

Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport Honda): "I think we had a pretty good Friday to start the race weekend. We went from seventh or eighth yesterday [during testing] to fifth today and we are the top Honda. We just have to turn that into a top-five tomorrow, get into that Firestone Fast Six [in qualifying] and go from there. Certainly, the Penske's are what looks like our toughest competition right now, so we're going to have to make another step overnight but so far, so good for the No. 28 DHL Honda."

Verizon IndyCar Series Go Pro Grand Prix of Sonoma

Circuit:  Sonomal Raceway (2.385-mile road course), Sonoma, Calif.
2016 Winner: Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske) 101.181 mph average
Weather:  Sunny, mild, 77 degrees F

 

Top-10 Friday Practice Session Results:

Ps.

Driver      

Team

Manufacturer

Best Time

Notes

  1.

Josef Newgarden

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:16.2485

Practice 2

  2.

Simon Pagenaud

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:16.2871

Practice 2

  3.

Helio Castroneves

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:16.3471

Practice 2

  4.

Will Power

Team Penske

Chevrolet

1:16.4322

Practice 1

  5.

Ryan Hunter-Reay

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:16.4829

Practice 2

  6.

Alexander Rossi

Andretti Herta Autosport

Honda

1:16.5720

Practice 1

  7.

Scott Dixon

Chip Ganassi Racing

Honda

1:16.5863

Practice 2

  8.

Marco Andretti

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:16.5999

Practice 2

  9.

Sebestien Bourdais

Dale Coyne Racing 

Honda

1:16.6060

Practice 1

10.

Tony Kanaan

Chip Ganassi Racing

Honda

1:16.7484

Practice 1

Other Honda Results

11.

Takuma Sato

Andretti Autosport

Honda

1:16.7542

Practice 2

12.

Graham Rahal

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Honda

1:16.8121

Practice 2

13.

Charlie Kimball

Chip Ganassi Racing

Honda

1:17.0106

Practice 2

14.

Max Chilton

Chip Ganassi Racing

Honda

1:17.0545

Practice 2

15.

James Hinchcliffe

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Honda

1:17.1210

Practice 1

17.

Ed Jones-R

Dale Coyne Racing                

Honda

1:17.2681

Practice 2

21.

Jack Harvey-R

Schmidt Peterson Motorsports

Honda

1:17.6168

Practice 1

22.

Zachary Claman DeMelo-R

Rahal Letterman Lanigan

Honda

1:17.9506

Practice 1

# # #