Sato, KV Racing Strong In Edmonton P2

The second practice session for Sunday's 90-lap Edmonton Indy race gave a strong preview of what fans can expect to see tomorrow: locked brakes and running long into Turn 1.

While most drivers have already perfect their 180-degree turnarounds to escape Turn 1, plenty of speed was also found in P2 as Takuma Sato moved to the top of the time chart in his No. 5 KV Racing-Lotus entry as the session ended.

Posting a lap of 1:18.977, Sato moved ahead of Dario Franchitti who held to fastest lap for the majority of the session. Along with Sato, the Scot's lap of 1:18.985 represented the only two laps below the 1:19 barrier.

Franchitti set his fast time on Lap 5, then proceeded to work on race setups, while many drivers spent the session concentrating on perfecting their cars for qualifying.

E.J. Viso showed his pace in P1 with the No. 59 KV Racing car wasn't a fluke, ending P2 in third. Franchitti's teammate, Scott Dixon, was fourth once again, making it a KV 1-3 and Ganassi 2-4.

Team Penske's Will Power fell from third in P1 to fifth in the second session, but was only .133 behind the leader.

Alex Tagliani improved from 17th in P1 to sixth in P2, while James Hinchcliffe, the fastest driver in P1, dropped to 11th.

Ryan Hunter-Reay cracked the top 10 for Andretti Autosport, while teammates Mike Conway (15th), Danica Patrick (16th) and Marco Andretti (21st) have a lot of room for improvement.

JR Hildebrand went backwards--from 12th in P1 to 20th in P2--which doesn't bode well for Panther Racing, and Paul Tracy continues to struggle for pace in 24th, where he finished in opening practice.

The only yellow of the session came with 30 minutes left on the clock when Sato stalled as he ran out of ethanol fuel. Will Power and Ana Beatriz also made wheel-to-wheel contact, but both cars were mostly undamaged in the incident.