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David Malsher-Lopez

IMS IndyCar: Rossi tops practice, Newgarden bounces back

Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s Alex Palou, around whom so much controversy is swirling at the moment, put his 2023 considerations aside to go quickest on the hard compound Firestones, his 19th lap producing a 70.9799sec 123.703mph of the 2.439-mile road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway with around half an hour of the 90min session left to run.

Then Rinus VeeKay, who won on this course in May 2021, overhauled him on the alternate compound to slot his Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy into top spot.

Alexander Rossi and rookie teammate Devlin DeFrancesco then moved their Andretti Autosport-Hondas into first and second with their second laps on the reds, Rossi’s best being a 70.0919. The pair were soon separated from each other by a pair of Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Hondas, those of Jack Harvey and Rookie of the Year points leader Christian Lundgaard, and their teammate Graham Rahal soon joined them in the low 70s.

Colton Herta moved up to second in another Andretti car before Josef Newgarden claimed second in the #2 Team Penske-Chevrolet. That seemed to prove his re-evaluation following his Iowa incidents would be somewhat superfluous.

One of his teammates Scott McLaughlin slotted into fourth, just ahead of Palou who also found strong pace on reds.

His other teammate, Will Power, who has taken six poles and five wins at this track, didn’t find the necessary speed while his reds were at their best and wound up only 18th fastest. He did, however, evoke a “nice save” comment from his strategist Ron Ruzewski after gathering up an alarming, smoky oversteer moment at Turn 8 while on the harder compound rubber.

Less successful in terms of honing their handling was Pato O’Ward, who took three adventures into grass and dirt in his Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet to finish up 20th fastest.

Romain Grosjean also appeared to have a very loose racecar, and was way off his teammates’ times and down in 21st.

Qualifying begins at 1pm local (Eastern) time.

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap Mph
1 United States Alexander Rossi United States Andretti Autosport 31 1'10.0919   125.270
2 United States Josef Newgarden United States Team Penske 27 1'10.1121 0.0202 125.234
3 United States Colton Herta United States Andretti Autosport 25 1'10.1507 0.0588 125.165
4 New Zealand Scott McLaughlin United States Team Penske 32 1'10.2065 0.1146 125.065
5 Spain Alex Palou United States Chip Ganassi Racing 29 1'10.2093 0.1174 125.060
6 United States Graham Rahal United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 29 1'10.2948 0.2029 124.908
7 Sweden Felix Rosenqvist United States Arrow McLaren SP 25 1'10.2948 0.2029 124.908
8 Denmark Christian Lundgaard United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 29 1'10.3237 0.2318 124.857
9 Brazil Helio Castroneves United States Meyer Shank Racing 25 1'10.3694 0.2775 124.776
10 United States Conor Daly United States Ed Carpenter Racing 29 1'10.4016 0.3097 124.719
11 Sweden Marcus Ericsson United States Chip Ganassi Racing 27 1'10.4739 0.3820 124.591
12 United Kingdom Callum Ilott United States Juncos Hollinger Racing 32 1'10.5234 0.4315 124.503
13 United States David Malukas United States Dale Coyne Racing 30 1'10.5350 0.4431 124.483
14 United Kingdom Jack Harvey United States Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing 30 1'10.5927 0.5008 124.381
15 New Zealand Scott Dixon United States Chip Ganassi Racing 31 1'10.5991 0.5072 124.370
16 France Simon Pagenaud United States Meyer Shank Racing 27 1'10.6038 0.5119 124.362
17 Canada Devlin DeFrancesco United States Andretti Autosport 29 1'10.6040 0.5121 124.361
18 Australia Will Power United States Team Penske 34 1'10.6196 0.5277 124.334
19 Netherlands Rinus van Kalmthout United States Ed Carpenter Racing 30 1'10.6478 0.5559 124.284
20 Mexico Patricio O'Ward United States Arrow McLaren SP 26 1'10.7272 0.6353 124.145
21 France Romain Grosjean United States Andretti Autosport 30 1'10.7344 0.6425 124.132
22 United States Kyle Kirkwood United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 29 1'11.1466 1.0547 123.413
23 Japan Takuma Sato United States Dale Coyne Racing 28 1'11.2690 1.1771 123.201
24 United States Jimmie Johnson United States Chip Ganassi Racing 39 1'11.6786 1.5867 122.497
25 Canada Dalton Kellett United States A.J. Foyt Enterprises 20 1'12.4978 2.4059 121.113

 

 

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