Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Autosport
Autosport
Sport
Charles Bradley

IndyCar Mid-Ohio: McLaren’s O’Ward fastest in first practice

O’Ward topped the 75-minute session around the 2.258-mile road course with a best lap of 1m06.4935s, ahead of points leader Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi Racing).

Josef Newgarden set the early pace with a lap of 1m07.3573s in his Chevrolet-powered Team Penske entry, but was then shaded by Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist at 1m07.3249s and Will Power (Penske) slotted into P2 with 1m07.3407s.

Series dominator Palou jumped to the top with 1m07.3073s before Christian Lundgaard then vaulted ahead with 1m07.2834s for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. The top six cars were covered by less than a tenth of a second at that point.

In the final 10 minutes, teams switched to the red alternate tyres from the harder blacks that they had been running exclusively. O’Ward took over at the top of the times with 1m06.4935s, while Palou took second with 1m06.8558s, ahead of CGR team-mate Marcus Ericsson.

Lundgaard improved his time to 1m07.0262s in fourth, but complained of a lack of front-end grip, with Andretti Autosport duo Kyle Kirkwood and Romain Grosjean next up.

Penske pair Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin finished the session in seventh and eighth respectively.

Helio Castroneves brought out the red flag when he spun his Meyer Shank Racing car on the exit of Turn 5 and needed his engine restarting. Grosjean suffered a grassy trip across the run-off at Turn 4 and continued, while third Arrow McLaren driver Alexander Rossi took wild rides at Turn 11 and Turn 1 on his way to ninth.

Colton Herta rounded out the top 10 for Andretti. Santino Ferrucci lost track time due to a throttle issue with his AJ Foyt Racing entry.

Second practice takes place at 9:45am local time on Saturday.

IndyCar Mid-Ohio FP1 Results:

Cla Driver Team Time Gap
1 Mexico Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren 1'06.4935  
2 Spain Alex Palou United States Chip Ganassi Racing 1'06.8558 0.3623
3 Sweden Marcus Ericsson United States Chip Ganassi Racing 1'06.9779 0.4844
4 Denmark Christian Lundgaard United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'07.0262 0.5327
5 United States Kyle Kirkwood United States Andretti Autosport 1'07.0269 0.5334
6 France Romain Grosjean United States Andretti Autosport 1'07.1175 0.6240
7 United States Josef Newgarden United States Team Penske 1'07.1401 0.6466
8 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin United States Team Penske 1'07.1531 0.6596
9 United States Alexander Rossi Arrow McLaren 1'07.1953 0.7018
10 United States Colton Herta United States Andretti Autosport 1'07.2166 0.7231
11 United Kingdom Jack Harvey United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'07.2674 0.7739
12 Canada Devlin DeFrancesco United States Andretti Autosport 1'07.3206 0.8271
13 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist Arrow McLaren 1'07.3249 0.8314
14 Australia Will Power United States Team Penske 1'07.3407 0.8472
15 New Zealand Scott Dixon United States Chip Ganassi Racing 1'07.4275 0.9340
16 Brazil Helio Castroneves United States Meyer Shank Racing 1'07.4346 0.9411
17 Netherlands Rinus van Kalmthout United States Ed Carpenter Racing 1'07.4613 0.9678
18 New Zealand Marcus Armstrong United States Chip Ganassi Racing 1'07.5083 1.0148
19 United States Graham Rahal United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 1'07.6082 1.1147
20 France Simon Pagenaud United States Meyer Shank Racing 1'07.6215 1.1280
21 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay United States Ed Carpenter Racing 1'07.7272 1.2337
22 United Kingdom Callum Ilott United States Juncos Hollinger Racing 1'07.7347 1.2412
23 Argentina Agustin Canapino United States Juncos Hollinger Racing 1'07.8378 1.3443
24 United States David Malukas United States Dale Coyne Racing 1'07.8785 1.3850
25 United States Santino Ferrucci United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'08.0703 1.5768
26 Ray Robb United States Dale Coyne Racing 1'08.3577 1.8642
27 Denmark Benjamin Pedersen United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 1'08.9832 2.4897
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.