Newgarden lapped the 4.014-mile course in 1min43.0477sec to become the only driver to break the 140mph barrier and comfortably eclipse Sato, who headed one of his erstwhile Andretti Autosport teammates, Alexander Rossi, by just 0.087sec.

Robert Wickens, who made his IndyCar debut here in opening practice last year when he subbed for the visa-troubled Mikhail Aleshin, slotted his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports-Honda into fourth, three tenths ahead of Marco Andretti.

Tony Kanaan grabbed sixth, about 1sec off Newgarden, while Spencer Pigot was an encouraging seventh for Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevy.

Zach Veach, who won here in Indy Lights back in 2016, was eighth, ahead of current championship leader and defending Road America winner Scott Dixon in the Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda.

Carlin Racing-Chevy was 15^th and 20^th with Max Chilton and Charlie Kimball respectively.

James Hinchcliffe survived a wild moment at Turn 8 but was only 17^th.

IndyCar debutant Alfonso Celis Jr. was 22^nd, but the Juncos Racing-Chevy was only 1.9sec off top spot, well ahead of Harding Racing-Chevy’s Gabby Chaves.

IndyCar, Road America free practice 1

Cla	#	Driver	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	Mph
1	1	Josef Newgarden	13	1'43.0477			140.230
2	30	Takuma Sato	13	1'43.4729	0.4252	0.4252	139.654
3	27	Alexander Rossi	11	1'43.5603	0.5126	0.0874	139.536
4	6	Robert Wickens	12	1'43.5774	0.5297	0.0171	139.513
5	98	Marco Andretti	11	1'43.8825	0.8348	0.3051	139.103
6	14	Tony Kanaan	11	1'44.0429	0.9952	0.1604	138.889
7	21	Spencer Pigot	11	1'44.1080	1.0603	0.0651	138.802
8	26	Zach Veach	12	1'44.1306	1.0829	0.0226	138.772
9	9	Scott Dixon	11	1'44.1643	1.1166	0.0337	138.727
10	4	Matheus Leist	15	1'44.2963	1.2486	0.1320	138.551
11	22	Simon Pagenaud	12	1'44.3186	1.2709	0.0223	138.522
12	10	Ed Jones	13	1'44.3520	1.3043	0.0334	138.477
13	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	11	1'44.4401	1.3924	0.0881	138.361
14	12	Will Power	14	1'44.4581	1.4104	0.0180	138.337
15	59	Max Chilton	13	1'44.5963	1.5486	0.1382	138.154
16	18	Sébastien Bourdais	12	1'44.6770	1.6293	0.0807	138.048
17	5	James Hinchcliffe	12	1'44.6999	1.6522	0.0229	138.017
18	20	Jordan King	15	1'44.7484	1.7007	0.0485	137.953
19	15	Graham Rahal	12	1'44.8655	1.8178	0.1171	137.799
20	23	Charlie Kimball	13	1'44.9050	1.8573	0.0395	137.747
21	19	Zachary Claman De Melo	15	1'44.9124	1.8647	0.0074	137.738
22	32	Alfonso Celis Jr.	14	1'44.9164	1.8687	0.0040	137.733
23	88	Gabby Chaves	12	1'46.4485	3.4008	1.5321	135.750