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Newgarden leads the first practice in Sonoma

IndyCar Series is already in Sonoma, and the first session of the last round has finished with championship leader Josef Newgarden on top, closely followed by his team-mates and rivals Power and Pagenaud.

Sesion started under perfect conditions and Max Chilton and Conor Daly were the first ones to go on track, followed by Zachary Claman De Melo, who was doing his very first official laps in IndyCar Series. First times were set around 1:18.

After the first 15 minutes, the track started to get crowded. Takuma Sato put himself on the lead with a 1:17. But times were dropping and Alex Rossi was the first driver to set a 1:16.

Towards the end of the practice, Penske cars finally appeared and took the top three positions. Nothing changed until the end and Josef Newgarden got the best time of the session with a 1:16.3950, followed by Will Power (0.03 seconds behind) and Simon Pagenaud (one tenth behind). As for the rest of championship contenders, Rossi has finished fourth, Scott Dixon sixth and Hélio Castroneves eighth.

Next practice session will start later today, at 2:15 PM local. Qualifying session is set to be held tomorrow at 3:30 PM, with race starting on Sunday at 3:40 PM