INDYCAR

Scott Dixon leads Free Practice for Indy's 2020 season opener in Texas 

Scott Dixon dominated the pace of the day's only free practice session at 215,995 mph when Indy officially began its 2020 season at Texas Motor Speedway.
The five-time champion of the category made 60 laps and led a Honda double, the Chip Ganassi Racing driver surpassing Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport) by just 0.18 s.
Patricio OWard( Arrow McLaren SP), making his first appearance on the 1.5-mile superspeedway, led the way for Chevrolet and finished the 80-minute session in third (-0.187 s). He recorded 89 best laps in the session. Zach Veach had his Andretti Autosport Honda at the top of the table in the middle of practice, but fell to the fourth when the checkered flag came, just ahead of teammate Marco Andretti.
Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) was sixth.
Josef Newgarden finished seventh fastest at 213,308 mph, just ahead of Penske teammate Simon Pageanud in eighth, with Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) and Felix Rosenqvist (Chip Ganassi Racing) completing the rest of the top 10.
There were two incidents in the 80-minute session, with one additional in the 30 minutes open only to beginners and novice drivers at Texas Motor Speedway.
Ed Carpenter was among those involved after his Chevrolet ECR escaped at the exit of Turn 4, turned on the tri-oval and stopped near the exit of the pit-lane. The car had minimal damage to the rear wing, but enough to justify a change. He finished 18th.
Near half-way, Ryan Hunter-Reay scraped on the outer wall of the exit of Turn 2, which led to the session interruption again, when Andretti Autosport Honda's number 28 stopped inside Turn 3. The 2014 Indianapolis 500 mile champion finished 21st.
Rookie Rinus VeeKay set the pace in the initial 30-minute session at 215.514 mph. However, after completing 11 laps, he entered Turn 3 and placed the left side tires just below the white line and became a passenger. The Chevrolet # 21 ECR turned around and hit the left side on the wall of Turn 4, stopping near the pit lane entrance, suffering substantial damage to the suspension, the left side and potentially the gearbox. VeeKay was released from the internal call center.

Victor D. Berto-Brazil