Christian Lundgaard led the second practice for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Saturday morning, a session that started with little action but ended with a flurry of activity that set the table for exciting NTT P1 Award qualifying this afternoon.

Lundgaard was quickest at 1 minute, 1.6157 seconds in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. That’s slower than his pace of 1:01.5235, good for 10th overall Friday, but overnight rain left the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit with damp patches until very late in the 64-minute session, which was divided into an overall group and two smaller groups. Only 12 of the 25 drivers turned laps in the first 16 minutes of the 40-minute overall session, waiting for the track to dry.

SEE: Practice 2 Results

Up next is NTT P1 Award qualifying at 4:30 p.m. ET today (FS2, FOX One, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio, powered by OnlyBulls). The 100-lap race starts at noon ET Sunday (FOX, FOX One, FOX Deportes, FOX Sports app, INDYCAR Radio, powered by OnlyBulls).

The race for the pole appears to be wide open, as drivers from six different teams occupied the top six spots on the time sheet for the second practice.

Marcus Armstrong continued his strong start to the weekend by ending up second at 1:01.6592 in the No. 66 ROOT Insurance Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb-Agajanian. Armstrong was seventh in the first session.

Reigning and four-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou was third at 1:01.6947 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Palou, who won this race last year, was sixth in practice Friday.

Kyle Kirkwood also continued to flex, ending up fourth at 1:01.7382 in the No. 27 JMBullion/Gold.com Honda of Andretti Global. Kirkwood may be the closest thing to a favorite for the NTT P1 Award among the leaders, as he was third quickest overall Friday.

2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi rounded out the top five at 1:01.7653 in the No. 20 ECR Java House Chevrolet.

David Malukas was sixth at 1:01.7894 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet in his debut weekend with the legendary team.

 

Friday’s leader, Scott McLaughlin, was seventh at 1:01.7921 in the No. 3 DEX Team Penske Chevrolet.

Rossi’s teammate, Christian Rasmussen, was one of two drivers to make heavy wall contact in the session. Rasmussen was unhurt after his No. 21 ECR Splenda Stevia Chevrolet spun and nosed into the concrete barrier in Turn 2. His car suffered moderate front-end damage.

“I lost the rear,” Rasmussen said. “Unfortunate way to start our qualifying day here. I just lost the rear in Turn 2.”

That accident followed Will Power’s crash in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda fielded by Andretti Global. Power also nosed into the wall, but in Turn 10. He was unhurt, but the front end of his machine suffered significant damage in his debut weekend with the team after 16 full-time seasons with Team Penske.

“I just locked the fronts,” Power said. “I wasn’t braking late. We had a lot of (brake) locking issues yesterday, so we changed brakes. We were hoping to fix the issue.”