In the first practice session, Will Power (Team Penske) was the quickest setting a lap time of 1min 07.5987seg. The Australian lead a Team Penske one-two with Josef Newgarden in second position, finishing ahead of four-time Verizon IndyCar champion, Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing).
The drivers used the first 30 minutes of the session to test push-to-pass system. Meanwhile we saw how Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport) went off track twice.
Who has also gone off was the reigning champion Josef Newgarden who lost the control of his car at turn 5 in the latest minutes.
The Penske golden boy then was the quickest in second practice, and his crash in practice 1 was only a precedent for what was going to happen in practice 2.
Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing), Zach Veach (Andretti Autosport), Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske) and James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports) were affected by tricky turn 5, falling into the run off area.
In the other hand, 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) and Indy Lights champion, Kyle Kaiser (Juncos Racing) also went off track but in other places of Barber Motorsports Park.
At the end of the day, Newgarden set the fastest lap-time of 1min 07.4345s, only one tenth quicker than his American fellow, Spencer Pigot (Ed Carpenter Racing).
