Saturday morning’s dry and warm 45-minute practice session for the NTT IndyCar Series featured more off-track adventures than any in recent memory as the 27 drivers tried to get a handle on their heavier hybrid cars. Only one of the incidents led to contact.
Due to the rain that prevented teams from making use of the Firestone alternate tires in Friday’s practice session, the series made an exception and allowed the faster rubber to be used in the second session as teams prepared for Saturday afternoon’s qualifying session, and with those red-banded alternates installed, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward led the field with a 1m05.9862s run in his No. 5 Chevy.
Home state product Graham Rahal was right behind O’Ward with a 1m06.0439s lap in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, and the rest of the top six was completed by Andretti Global’s Colton Herta (1m06.1639s), Meyer Shank Racing’s David Malukas (1m06.2076s), Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon (1m06.2189s), and Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi (1m06.2517s).
Linus Lundqvist was the first driver to dip below the 1m06s barrier, logging a 1m06.9882s after 10 minutes of running. He’d have Ganassi teammate Marcus Armstrong improve it and t ake the lead after 15 minutes with a 1m06.7007s lap. After 20 minutes, it was Pato O’Ward who took over the top spot with a 1m06.5819s run, and Marcus Ericsson stepped ahead with a 1m06.5774s.