Andretti Global continued to show its street-course strength Saturday during pre-qualifying practice for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear, as Kyle Kirkwood led a 1-2 result for the team.

Reigning Detroit winner Kirkwood (photo, top) was quickest overall in the three-group session with a lap of 1 minute, 1.8145 seconds in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda. That was just ahead of his teammate Will Power, second at 1:01.9453 in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda under sunny skies but unseasonably cool air temperatures around 60 degrees, about 20 degrees cooler than Friday.

SEE: Practice Results

Kirkwood’s quickest lap came on his final trip around the nine-turn, 1.645-mile street circuit and his 11th lap on that set of Firestone Firehawk primary tires, which seemed to get faster with every lap, creating interesting strategy options for NTT P1 Award qualifying later today and the race Sunday.

“We’re good,” Kirkwood said. “Typical street course stuff for us. Obviously, we’re still fast. Long Beach wasn’t as epic as we intended, so we had a couple of questions coming in here, and we’ve been fast in both sessions.

“It’s cold. The tires are hard, and it’s cold out here. It just takes forever (to heat the tires).”

But it wasn’t all smooth sailing for Kirkwood. He brushed the concrete barrier lining the circuit about 26 minutes into the session, triggering a red flag and bending the toe link on the suspension of his car, as drivers explored the limits of grip in the cooler air and track temperatures.

“It got a little loose,” Kirkwood said. “I thought I had margin to the wall, and it kind of snapped at a weird angle. It was a very light touch.”

Five of Kirkwood’s six career victories – all with Andretti Global – have come on temporary street circuits, including the Java House Grand Prix of Arlington in March. Power’s best finish of his first season with the Andretti team after 16 seasons with Team Penske also came at Arlington, where he placed fourth.

Pato O’Ward climbed to third overall today at 1:02.1949 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet after ending up fifth in practice Friday. Three-time reigning series champion Alex Palou slipped from leading Friday at 1:02.7722 to fourth with a quicker lap of 1:02.2573 in the No. 10 HRC Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Scott McLaughlin was the top driver for Team Penske, fifth overall at 1:02.2922 in the No. 3 Clarience Technologies Chevrolet.

Kirkwood was the only driver to bring out a red flag due to contact, but two cars were forced to the pits early after heavy smoke trailed from their engine covers in separate incidents. The afflicted cars were the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet of Rinus VeeKay and the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Christian Lundgaard.

Up next is NTT P1 Award qualifying at 1 p.m. ET today (FS1, FOX One, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls). The 100-lap race is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. ET Sunday (FOX, FOX One, INDYCAR Radio powered by OnlyBulls).