In the opening five minutes, a 1:10.3623 from Arrow McLaren’s Theo Pourchaire saw him lead Fittipaldi, Palou, Rosenqvist and Canapino. Lundgaard, McLaughlin, Harvey, Grosjean and Blomqvist completed the top 10.
The surprises continued at the top of the timesheets as ECR’s Christian Rasmussen slotted into 2nd, 0.06s slower than Pourchaire.
Arrow McLaren started to flex their muscles as Pato O’Ward went top, with Alexander Rossi going P4. However, Christian Lundgaard led the way a quarter of the way through as a 1:09.9476 put him a tenth clear of the Mexican.
Armstrong, Power and Rossi completed the top 5. It was a good return for the Kiwi as he did no meaningful running in first practice because of an engine issue.
At the front, O’Ward responded to Lundgaard as a 1:09.9090 saw him return to P1. Agustin Canapino continued to be extremely impressive following a very strong FP1, moving up to P2, 0.03 away from the Mexican.
At the exit of turn 10, Marcus Ericsson and Tom Blomqvist had separate spins as they both went around because they put their left hand side wheels on the grass.
A red flag had to be thrown with just over 23 minutes left as Jack Harvey lost the car through turn 10, spun and ended up on the grass on the other side of the track. The British driver stalled.
The top 10 was O’Ward, Canapino, Lundgaard, Armstrong, Grosjean, Power, Rossi, VeeKay, Pourchaire and Rasmussen when the green flag was thrown.
Barber winner Scott McLaughlin logged a 1:09.8648 to go top with 20 minutes to go to pip O’Ward to P1 at that point. One of 2024’s most impressive drivers to date, Felix Rosenqvist, put himself into 2nd on a 1:09.8965.
In true Pato O’Ward style, the Mexican had a huge drift at turn 2 but avoided spinning as he lost the rear on corner entry.
RLL’s Graham Rahal had a tiny mishap as he lightly brushed the wall into turn 12 as he got on the anchors.
Two multi-time champions moved up at the end. Initially, Scott Dixon vaulted up to P1 with a 1:09.8565. Will Power then pumped in a 1:09.6899 to beat his arch rival.
Championship leader Colton Herta had a lock-up into turn 1 late on as the Andretti man pushed on.
It was Christian Lundgaard who ended up on top as a 1:09.5588 put him over a tenth clear of Power. Dixon, McLaughlin, Rosenqvist, O’Ward, Armstrong, Canapino, Rahal and Newgarden rounded out the top 10.
