There was an instant red flag in second practice as Pietro Fittipaldi went off at turn 2. It was a steering rack failure as the car simply did not turn.
At the 10-minute mark, a 1:06.6973 from Christian Lundgaard saw him lead the way from Rossi, McLaughlin, Ferrucci, O’Ward, Grosjean, Rasmussen, Blomqvist, Herta and Palou.
At turns 8 and 9, Christian Rasmussen had a massive tank slapper at the downhill section, running through the gravel but able to continue on. The Dane had another moment at turn 17 later but just managed to avoid having a spin and accident.
Despite a huge slide on the exit of turn 9, Rinus VeeKay vaulted to the top of the charts with a 1:06.5463, a tenth clear of Rahal and Lundgaard.
With 25 minutes remaining, VeeKay led Grosjean, Rahal, Lundgaard, McLaughlin, O’Ward, Rossi, Newgarden, Ferrucci and Ericsson. Half a second covered them.
A second red flag was required as Arrow McLaren’s Theo Pourchaire spun at turn 13 and ended up in the grass. The car stalled.
It was an early end to final practice for Felix Rosenqvist as an engine issue curtailed his running.
VeeKay was ahead of Grosjean, Rahal, Lundgaard, McLaughlin, O’Ward, Newgarden, Rossi, Rasmussen and Ferrucci when the green flag was thrown.
In the closing minutes, Kyffin Simpson got wide at turn 1 and briefly got airborne as he took off over some grass as he had a major moment.
At the same turn, Marcus Ericsson had two moments during the session but nowhere near as wild as the incident Simpson had.
AJ Foyt’s Santino Ferrucci had an excursion at turn 5 as he got deep and ended up on the grass.
A 1:06.5463 from VeeKay saw him top the times from Grosjean, McLaughlin, Rahal, Lundgaard, O’Ward, Power, Palou, Newgarden and Armstrong.
The top 2 drivers in the standings, Scott Dixon and Colton Herta, finished just outside the top 10 on P12 and P14.
