IndyCar Iowa: McLaughlin fastest but spins in practice, Ericsson wrecks

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin led the only practice session of the weekend for IndyCar’s double-header at Iowa Speedway.

The New Zealander threw down a monster lap of 185.891 mph around the 0.894-mile oval, which featured newly-repaved bottom lanes in all four corners.

Reigning and two-time series champion Alex Palou ended up putting his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing entry second overall, just 0.0331s slower.

Arrow McLaren driver Pato O’Ward was third at 0.1633s off the mark set by McLaughlin.

Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas was fourth, followed by Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Pietro Fittipaldi ran a session-most 112 laps, ending up 17th overall (0.4794s).

The day’s on-track activity for the IndyCar Series started with a special 30-minute high-line session, which featured a different right-side tyre compound specific to the running for the two groups that split into running 15 minutes each.

The brief outing ended with Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson at the top with a fastest lap of 177.399mph, just ahead of Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Agustin Canapino’s best run of 177.380mph.

Patricio O'Ward, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet (Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images)

That would be the only positive moment of the afternoon for Ericsson, who crashed just 10 minutes into the regular 90-minute practice that followed after a small break.

Ericsson was turning into Turn 3 when the back end of his Honda-powered car kicked out as he transitioned onto the repaved portion of the corner.

Despite his best efforts to regain control, the car drifted up the track and right side slammed hard into the Turn 4 wall before sliding across the frontstretch and coming to a stop near the infield.

The 2022 Indianapolis 500 winner was fifth on the leaderboard at the time, nailing 179.694 mph after just running three laps.

“Really strange,” Ericsson said. “We did a whole test here and we had zero rear insecurity. We did the high-line practice and the car felt great; I was super comfortable.

“It came a bit out of nowhere. Really frustrating.”

The session resumed roughly 10 minutes later, with Ericsson’s team-mate, Colton Herta vaulting up to first shortly thereafter with a quick lap at 182.083 mph.

AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci jumped to the top spot at the halfway mark with a 182.273mph flying lap, but was dethroned by McLaughlin, who was then knocked off by Rossi. But it was Palou’s lap of 185.519 mph getting everyone’s attention not long after.

Katherine Legge, Dale Coyne Racing Honda (Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images)

McLaughlin responded with a simulated qualifying run and went to the top of the timesheets with a quick lap of 185.891mph with 26 minutes to go.

Although Katherine Legge, who is making her first appearance back in IndyCar since the Indy 500 in May, started strong early in the session, she had a challenging moment after spinning off Turn 4 just two minutes later. Fortunately, she made no contact with the wall and was able to continue after stalling on the frontstretch to bring out the caution.

With seven minutes left, the promising session for Canapino nearly ended in tears as he was forced to brake hard while coming up on a significantly slower Will Power and spun off Turn 3.

Then, while coming down pit lane, Canapino was hit in the left-rear by Dixon, who appeared to be mistakenly pulling into the pit box of the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet for rookie Nolan Siegel.

In the closing moments of practice, McLaughlin attempted to try the high line, but ended up spinning. He was able to keep it off the wall as the incident closed out the practice.

IndyCar Iowa practice results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Mph
1	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3	121	17.3134		185.891
2	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10	99	+0.0331 17.3465	0.0331	185.536
3	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5	111	+0.1633 17.4767	0.1302	184.154
4	D. Malukas Meyer Shank Racing	66	90	+0.1673 17.4807	0.0040	184.112
5	A. Rossi Arrow McLaren	7	102	+0.1985 17.5119	0.0312	183.784
6	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9	74	+0.2141 17.5275	0.0156	183.620
7	A. Canapino Juncos Hollinger Racing	78	99	+0.2144 17.5278	0.0003	183.617
8	L. Lundqvist Chip Ganassi Racing	8	74	+0.2614 17.5748	0.0470	183.126
9	C. Herta Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian	26	86	+0.2769 17.5903	0.0155	182.964
10	W. Power Team Penske	12	86	+0.2831 17.5965	0.0062	182.900
11	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15	66	+0.2949 17.6083	0.0118	182.777
12	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60	89	+0.3140 17.6274	0.0191	182.579
13	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14	76	+0.3436 17.6570	0.0296	182.273
14	R. van Kalmthout Ed Carpenter Racing	21	80	+0.3594 17.6728	0.0158	182.110
15	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2	105	+0.4178 17.7312	0.0584	181.511
16	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6	80	+0.4493 17.7627	0.0315	181.189
17	P. Fittipaldi Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30	112	+0.4794 17.7928	0.0301	180.882
18	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27	58	+0.5179 17.8313	0.0385	180.492
19	C. Lundgaard Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45	86	+0.5532 17.8666	0.0353	180.135
20	R. Grosjean Juncos Hollinger Racing	77	82	+0.5955 17.9089	0.0423	179.710
21	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28	3	+0.5970 17.9104	0.0015	179.694
22	J. Harvey Dale Coyne Racing	18	56	+0.6002 17.9136	0.0032	179.662
23	M. Armstrong Chip Ganassi Racing	11	77	+0.6127 17.9261	0.0125	179.537
24	K. Legge Dale Coyne Racing	51	63	+0.7142 18.0276	0.1015	178.526
25	R. Robb A.J. Foyt Enterprises	41	104	+0.7907 18.1041	0.0765	177.772
26	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	4	101	+1.0205 18.3339	0.2298	175.544
27	E. Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing	20	76	+1.1689 18.4823	0.1484	174.134