IndyCar GP Indy: O’Ward sets the pace in second practice

Early in the session, there were two red flags for sandtrap visits by Dalton Kellett of AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet and Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s Jimmie Johnson.

Jack Harvey, driving the Rahal Letterman Lanigan-Honda at the only venue where he scored his first and so far sole podium, was the first driver to set a time on the Firestone softer alternate tires, lapping the 2.439-mile 14-turn track in 1min10.0971sec. That put him 0.675sec ahead of the fastest driver on primaries at that time, Colton Herta in the Andretti Autosport-Honda.

Then Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet’s Felix Rosenqvist, who took pole here in 2019, shaved 0.0426sec off that to claim top spot for not even half a minute before defending GP Indy winner Rinus VeeKay ducked into the 69s with a 69.9265sec lap. Rosenqvist was further displaced by Christian Lundgaard, who startled everyone on his debut here last year, with fourth on the grid for the second Indy road course race of the season, in August.

Will Power, five-time pole-sitter and five-time winner on this track, slotted into fourth temporarily, but then Alex Palou of Ganassi and Pato O’Ward in the second AMSP entry delivered their best laps of the weekend so far to take the top two slots.

On alternates, Romain Grosjean looked the best of the Andretti Autosport-Hondas, taking fifth ahead of the second ECR-Chevy of local boy Conor Daly. Then his teammate and rival Colton Herta jumped into third, 0.06sec behind former Indy Lights teammate O’Ward.

That’s the way it remained, with O’Ward setting a 69.7839sec/125.823mph lap, 0.0298sec ahead of Palou, with Herta and VeeKay also in the 69s.

Lundgaard reported that his RLL-Honda felt “fantastic” and ended up fifth quickest.

Simon Pagenaud, a three-time winner here, drove his Meyer Shank Racing-Honda into ninth ahead of former Penske teammate Power who completed the top 10, 0.007sec ahead of Scott McLaughlin.

Juan Pablo Montoya, who tomorrow will make his first roadcourse IndyCar start since this event last year, was 1.2sec off the pace in the third Arrow McLaren SP-Chevy, while fellow Colombian Tatiana Calderon showed some progress, winding up just 0.8sec off Indy Lights champion teammate Kyle Kirkwood.

Qualifying begins at 4.00pm local (Eastern) time.