If starting this week by winning the Indianapolis 500 whetted his appetite for another champion, Ryan Hunter-Reay's hunt is in full force by being fastest in first practice for the Belle Isle doubleheader.
Hunter-Reay topped the time sheet with a 1:18.8595 lap. The 2008 Belle Isle winner Justin Wilson jumped to second fastest late in the session, 0.0221 seconds back. Hélio Castroneves was runner-up at Indianapolis and finds himself third quickest in first practice, 0.0382 seconds off Hunter-Reay. Winner of race two at Belle Isle last year, Simon Pagenaud jumped to fourth on his final lap of the session and making it three Hondas in the top five. Tony Kanaan rounded out the top five, 0.3488 seconds back of Hunter-Reay.
Four of the top five are former Belle Isle winners. Castroneves picked up his first IndyCar victory at Belle Isle in 2000 and Kanaan won in 2007.
Mike Conway made it five consecutive former Belle Isle winners on the time sheet in sixth position. Ryan Briscoe was seventh quickest as he looks to turn things around after struggling at Indianapolis but fighting for a eighteenth place finish. James Hinchcliffe was eighth quickest in his second home race. Belle Isle is located in the middle of the Detroit River with Windsor, Ontario in it's sights. Graham Rahal was a surprise ninth quickest with Charlie Kimball in tenth, making it three Ganassi cars in the top ten.
Marco Andretti was eleventh followed by Sebastián Saavedra and Jack Hawksworth. Scott Dixon was fourteeth, 1.0212 seconds of off Hunter-Reay's fastest lap. Carlos Muñoz jumped to fifteenth on his final lap of the session, putting eight Hondas in the top fifteen.
Takuma Sato was sixteenth quickest. Will Power was a surprising seventeenth in the first session. Just behind him was Mikhail Aleshin. Josef Newgarden was nineteenth with Sébastien Bourdais rounding out the top twenty. Colombians Carlos Huertas and Juan Pablo Montoya were the slowest two drivers in the first session with Montoya 2.0932 seconds back of Hunter-Reay.
Second practice from Belle Isle will take place at 3:20 p.m. ET.
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