The Frenchman set a 67.3399sec lap putting him 0.13sec clear of his nearest pursuer, which was Jack Hawksworth, heading up six Honda-powered cars.

It was a strong session for both AJ Foyt Racing and Andretti Autosport, as Hawksworth and teammate Takuma Sato finished second and fifth, while Carlos Munoz and Ryan Hunter-Reay were third and fourth for Michael Andretti’s team.

Hunter-Reay might possibly have edged his teammate, but for a wicked curb-mounting slide on the exit of Turn 5 which he caught without drama.

James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Peterson Motorsport) and Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) were sixth and seventh.

Given that the teams tested here pre-season and as recently as late March, it was understandable that Penske and Ganassi focused more on longer runs. Nonetheless, it was surprising to see championship leader and Long Beach winner Simon Pagenaud heading up the Penske-Chevrolet contingent in eighth, and Scott Dixon as top Ganassi-Chevrolet driver in 10^th.

Luca Filippi was ninth fastest for Dale Coyne Racing-Honda, while his teammate Conor Daly was fastest rookie in 16^th.

There were no yellow flags, and the only incident of note was when Mikhail Aleshin ran off course at Turn 5, before executing a neat spin turn and continuing without stopping.

IndyCar - Barber - Free Practice 1:

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time/Gap
1	11	Sébastien Bourdais	KVSH (C)	1:07.3399
2	41	Jack Hawksworth	Foyt (H)	+0.1263
3	26	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti (H)	+0.2739
4	27	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti (H)	+0.3171
5	14	Takuma Sato	Foyt (H)	+0.3785
6	5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt (H)	+0.3846
7	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal (H)	+0.4330
8	22	Simon Pagenaud	Penske (C)	+0.4439
9	19	Luca Filippi	Coyne (H)	+0.4564
10	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi (C)	+0.5099
11	7	Mikhail Aleshin	Schmidt (H)	+0.5228
12	2	Juan Pablo Montoya	Penske (C)	+0.6229
13	21	Josef Newgarden	Carpenter (C)	+0.6477
14	27	Marco Andretti	Andretti (H)	+0.6549
15	12	Will Power	Penske (C)	+0.6813
16	18	Conor Daly	Coyne (H)	+0.8013
17	3	Helio Castroneves	Penske (C)	+0.8686
18	83	Charlie Kimball	Ganassi (C)	+0.9930
19	8	Max Chilton	Ganassi (C)	+0.9963
20	98	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Herta	+1.1841
21	10	Tony Kanaan	Ganassi (C)	+20.6952