IndyCar Barber: McLaughlin tops incident-packed first practice

Inevitably, after a warm-up lap at the start of the session, the veterans parked and let the rookies use their extra set of primary tyres to clean the track and add grip to the surface already christened with Firestone rubber thanks to the Indy NXT cars on track earlier in the afternoon.

Despite a lurid moment at Turn 9 in his #11 Chip Ganassi, Marcus Armstrong was the first to lap the course at an average of over 122mph on his sixth lap, producing a 1m07.7542s around the 17-turn 2.3-mile course.

Christian Lundgaard was the first non-rookie to lay down a fast lap, and within three flyers he was on top with a 1m07.4060s, a couple of tenths ahead of Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean.

Then Helio Castroneves took too big a bite out of the extended curbing at Turn 8, went airborne and his Meyer Shank Racing car ended up in the gravel trap on the outside of Turn 9, but without reaching the tyre wall.

Armstrong’s Ganassi team-mates were next to show their mettle, Alex Palou – 2021 winner here – going top, with Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson clocking third.

Then out came the second red, as Grosjean’s right-side exhausts started smoking heavily and he was told to stop on track.

When the action resumed, McLaughlin, who topped the test at Barber in mid-March, jumped his Team Penske up to third on his sixth lap, ahead of Alexander Rossi’s Arrow McLaren.

Meanwhile, Palou had delivered a 123mph lap to set a 1m07.2709s, but he was soon eclipsed by team-mate Scott Dixon who has scored nine podiums in 12 starts at Barber but is still seeking his first win here, while Ericsson made it a Ganassi 1-2-3.

Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren (Photo by: IndyCar Series)

David Malukas of Dale Coyne Racing was the first driver to put on a set of the alternate Firestone tyres and moved into fifth, but Simon Pagenaud also using the softer rubber was able to shade him to grab fourth and then went top with a 1m07.1071s.

Pato O’Ward had a lurid moment over the blind crest approaching Turn 16, oversteering off the track and mowing down two advertising boards, but keeping the car undamaged. Two-time Barber winner Will Power wasn’t so lucky, running slightly wide at Turn 1 on his first attempt on alternates, and then rolling across the gravel trap at Turn 2, knocking the front wing into the tyre wall and requiring rescuing.

In the final five minutes, Lundgaard laid down a 1m07.0200s on alternates, but Ericsson cracked the 1m07s barrier with a 1m06.9994s. He was rapidly deposed by McLaughlin’s 124mph effort, a 1m06.6610s, with Colton Herta second for Andretti Autosport.

Power was the last driver to squeeze in a lap and despite slightly worse-for-wear tyres, he wound up third, just ahead of old foe Dixon, fastest of the Ganassi drivers.

Second practice will begin at 11.00am on Saturday, with qualifying starting at 2.00pm (both local time).

IndyCar Barber - FP1 results

P	Name	FTime	Diff	FL	Laps	FSpeed	Engine	Tire	Team
1	Scott McLaughlin	1:06.6610	1:06.6610	16	16	124.211	Chevy	A	Team Penske
2	Colton Herta	1:06.8193	0.1583	17	17	123.916	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian
3	Will Power	1:06.8985	0.2375	21	21	123.770	Chevy	A	Team Penske
4	Scott Dixon	1:06.9345	0.2735	17	17	123.703	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
5	Marcus Ericsson	1:06.9994	0.3384	17	19	123.583	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
6	Christian Lundgaard	1:07.0200	0.3590	20	22	123.545	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
7	Josef Newgarden	1:07.0579	0.3969	15	17	123.475	Chevy	A	Team Penske
8	Pato O'Ward	1:07.0771	0.4161	15	15	123.440	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren
9	Simon Pagenaud	1:07.1071	0.4461	14	19	123.385	Honda	A	Meyer Shank Racing
10	Alex Palou	1:07.1678	0.5068	21	22	123.273	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
11	Alexander Rossi	1:07.2483	0.5873	18	21	123.126	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren
12	Graham Rahal	1:07.3181	0.6571	18	19	122.998	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
13	Rinus VeeKay	1:07.3990	0.7380	16	18	122.850	Chevy	A	Ed Carpenter Racing
14	Callum Ilott	1:07.4038	0.7428	19	21	122.842	Chevy	A	Juncos Hollinger Racing
15	David Malukas	1:07.4101	0.7491	14	19	122.830	Honda	A	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
16	Devlin DeFrancesco	1:07.4765	0.8155	16	17	122.709	Honda	A	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
17	Marcus Armstrong	1:07.4770	0.8160	30	30	122.708	Honda	A	Chip Ganassi Racing
18	Conor Daly	1:07.5920	0.9310	19	20	122.500	Chevy	A	Ed Carpenter Racing
19	Romain Grosjean	1:07.6038	0.9428	4	9	122.478	Honda	P	Andretti Autosport
20	Jack Harvey	1:07.7399	1.0789	17	18	122.232	Honda	A	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
21	Felix Rosenqvist	1:07.7901	1.1291	12	23	122.142	Chevy	A	Arrow McLaren
22	Kyle Kirkwood	1:07.8077	1.1467	6	20	122.110	Honda	A	Andretti Autosport
23	Helio Castroneves	1:07.9041	1.2431	19	19	121.937	Honda	A	Meyer Shank Racing
24	Agustin Canapino	1:07.9130	1.2520	24	26	121.921	Chevy	A	Juncos Holling Racing
25	Sting Ray Robb	1:07.9557	1.2947	6	30	121.844	Honda	P	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
26	Santino Ferrucci	1:08.0966	1.4356	16	16	121.592	Chevy	A	AJ Foyt Enterprises
27	Benjamin Pedersen	1:08.3643	1.7033	25	27	121.116	Chevy	A	AJ Foyt Enterprises