The 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan started the Pocono weekend on a very high note. The Brazilian laid down a lap of 40.6607 seconds, 221.344 MPH, faster than track record of 221.273 MPH over two laps set by Marco Andretti last year.
Andretti Autosport came out strong at Pocono for the second consecutive year. Ryan Hunter-Reay was second quickest at 40.7457 seconds, 220.882 MPH. Marco Andretti was third quickest with James Hinchcliffe in fourth. Those three drivers swept the front row last year at Pocono. Takuma Sato made it four Hondas in the top five, just 0.0003 seconds back of Hinchcliffe.
Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth fastest in his first appearance at Pocono in an IndyCar. The Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports pairing of Simon Pagenaud and Mikhail Aleshin were seventh and eighth respectively in the session. Aleshin missed most of first practice due to a radiator issue. Will Power was ninth with Carlos Muñoz in tenth, giving Andretti Autosport perfect attendance in the top ten. Honda ended the session with seven of the top ten positions.
Defending Pocono winner and defending IndyCar champion Scott Dixon was eleventh, 0.3783 seconds back of his Ganassi teammate. The most recent IndyCar oval winner Ed Carpenter was twelfth followed by Josef Newgarden. Hélio Castroneves was fourteenth with last year's runner up at Pocono Charlie Kimball fifteenth, 0.5158 seconds back of his teammate Kanaan.
Jack Hawksworth was sixteenth with Sébastien Bourdais in seventeenth. Justin Wilson was eighteenth ahead of Ryan Briscoe. Graham Rahal rounded out the top twenty, 0.8410 seconds slower than Kanaan. Colombians Sebastián Saavedara and Carlos Huertas round out the twenty-two car field. Saavedra ran a session-high 58 laps while 1.4057 seconds was the gap between Kanaan and Huertas.
Second practice will take place at 1:30 p.m. ET with IndyCar qualifying at 5:00 p.m. ET.
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