Gabby Chaves, Stefano Coletti and Sage Karam had the Tricky Triangle to themselves for the first 55 minutes of Saturday morning's on-track action at Pocono Raceway for the Rookie practice before the entire field took to the track for the opening session of the weekend.
The three first-time drivers had an uneventful session and were able to get the feel of the 2.5-mile tri-oval.
Once the rookies had their preview, the rest of the field went out on track to get acclimated. Carlos Munoz in the No. 26 was assessed a drive-thru penalty for a pit violation during the opening minutes of the session while local boys Marco Andretti and Karam, both from nearby Nazareth, PA, set the early pace of the session.
The teams experimented with set-ups during the morning practice; the Hondas were changing the side winglets as well as the angles of the front and rear wings while Chevrolets concentrated on the pods near the rear wheels. The track changed as the morning went on; with qualifying scheduled for 2 pm ET the teams need to make educated guesses about what the track will be like during the early afternoon. The teams were very focused on getting speed and handling adjusted on their cars.
Chip Ganassi Racing driver Charlie Kimball was fastest in the last half-hour of the session with a speed of 221.373 mph, about five-tenths-of-a-second slower than the track record set in 2014 by polesitter and race winner Juan Pablo Montoya of Team Penske.
With about six minutes remaining, KV Racing Technology driver Stefano Coletti spun and hit the inside retaining wall coming off the final corner. The Holmatro Safety Team responded to the No. 4 Chevrolet, but Coletti was unhurt. Following this incident, the session was deemed complete with just the few minutes remaining.
The fastest speed at the top of the timesheet remained Kimball's at 221.373 mph. He was followed by Karam, Simon Pagenaud, Montoya, Takuma Sato (in the fastest Honda), Andretti, Will Power, Tony Kanaan, Munoz and Jack Hawksworth.
Qualifying for the ABC Supply 500 will begin at 2 pm ET. Be sure to follow @VAVELIndyCar for continued coverage from Pocono Raceway this weekend.
Cathy Shumaker is a writer for the VAVEL USA Racing section. Follow her on Twitter at @cathyshu.