IndyCar GP Indy: Rossi leads Harvey in opening practice
First practice for the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis saw Alexander Rossi put his Andretti Autosport-Honda on top of the times, just ahead of Jack Harvey’s Meyer Shank Racing entry.
Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda
Barry Cantrell / Motorsport Images
Following the news that Max Chilton’s Carlin-Chevrolet won’t be taking part in this weekend’s Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the car count in opening practice was further reduced when Alex Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda sprung a water leak and was towed back to the garage area.
Then Sebastien Bourdais’ AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet ground to a halt on its third lap due to an electrical problem, and therefore was penalized for five minutes having caused a red flag. That was a moot point, however, as he never returned to action.
Rinus VeeKay, who set his first pole position and scored his first podium at this venue in last October’s Harvest Grand Prix, sat at the top of the times for most of the session. The #21 Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet turned a 70.0624sec 125.323mph on its fifth lap of the 14-turn, 2.439-mile track with Josef Newgarden’s Team Penske-Chevrolet sitting just 0.0019sec adrift – the pair of them 0.34sec clear of the field.
Then Alexander Rossi got within the same tenth, having earlier had a trip off road and then his #27 Andretti Autosport-Honda ducked under the 70sec barrier with a 69.8784 on his 11th lap.
Semi-teammate Jack Harvey, front-row starter here last year, went second quickest for Meyer Shank Racing-Honda, also getting down to a 69sec lap, while Colton Herta left it until his last lap to grab sixth, behind Romain Grosjean of Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda.
Rookie Scott McLaughlin made it two Team Penske-Chevrolets in seventh ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay in the third Andretti car.
Graham Rahal survived a puncture and a spin to claim ninth but was unhappy with his car’s handling, while Conor Daly in the second ECR-Chevy claimed 10th.
Will Power, five-time IMS road course polesitter and four-time winner, was only 13th fastest but still ahead of championship leader and defending champion Scott Dixon.
Also looking uncharacteristically slow – relatively speaking – were the Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolets of Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist. Their temporary teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya – who hasn’t started an IndyCar road course race since 2016 – was 0.6sec off Rosenqvist, and a couple of tenths ahead of NASCAR legend Jimmie Johnson in the Ganassi-Honda. He took the checkered flag twice, so will be forced to sit out the first five minutes of second practice.
Second practice will begin at 1pm local (Eastern) time, with qualifying set to start at 4.45pm.
Cla | Driver | Team | Laps | Time | Gap | Mph |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Alexander Rossi
|
Andretti Autosport | 12 | 1'09.878 | 125.653 | |
2 |
Jack Harvey
|
Meyer Shank Racing | 17 | 1'09.964 | 0.086 | 125.498 |
3 |
Rinus van Kalmthout
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | 20 | 1'10.062 | 0.184 | 125.323 |
4 |
Josef Newgarden
|
Team Penske | 15 | 1'10.064 | 0.185 | 125.319 |
5 |
Romain Grosjean
|
Dale Coyne Racing with RWR | 17 | 1'10.158 | 0.280 | 125.151 |
6 |
Colton Herta
|
Andretti Autosport | 15 | 1'10.225 | 0.346 | 125.032 |
7 |
Scott McLaughlin
|
Team Penske | 21 | 1'10.304 | 0.426 | 124.891 |
8 |
Ryan Hunter-Reay
|
Andretti Autosport | 15 | 1'10.435 | 0.557 | 124.659 |
9 |
Graham Rahal
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 15 | 1'10.474 | 0.595 | 124.590 |
10 |
Conor Daly
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | 14 | 1'10.499 | 0.621 | 124.545 |
11 |
Simon Pagenaud
|
Team Penske | 14 | 1'10.510 | 0.631 | 124.527 |
12 |
Ed Jones
|
Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan | 13 | 1'10.554 | 0.675 | 124.449 |
13 |
Will Power
|
Team Penske | 13 | 1'10.704 | 0.826 | 124.184 |
14 |
James Hinchcliffe
|
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | 14 | 1'10.725 | 0.847 | 124.147 |
15 |
Marcus Ericsson
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | 11 | 1'10.729 | 0.850 | 124.141 |
16 |
Scott Dixon
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | 13 | 1'10.772 | 0.894 | 124.065 |
17 |
Takuma Sato
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | 16 | 1'10.800 | 0.922 | 124.015 |
18 |
Patricio O'Ward
|
Arrow McLaren SP | 11 | 1'10.813 | 0.934 | 123.994 |
19 |
Dalton Kellett
|
A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 18 | 1'10.864 | 0.985 | 123.905 |
20 |
Felix Rosenqvist
|
Arrow McLaren SP | 14 | 1'10.965 | 1.087 | 123.728 |
21 |
Juan Pablo Montoya
|
Arrow McLaren SP | 13 | 1'11.483 | 1.604 | 122.831 |
22 |
Jimmie Johnson
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | 22 | 1'11.687 | 1.808 | 122.482 |
23 |
Charlie Kimball
|
A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 4 | 1'12.200 | 2.322 | 121.612 |
24 |
Sébastien Bourdais
|
A.J. Foyt Enterprises | 3 | 1'30.866 | 20.988 | 96.629 |
25 |
Alex Palou
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | 0 | |||
26 |
Max Chilton
|
Carlin | 0 | |||
View full results |
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