In the Friday morning session, Colton Herta emerged as the fastest driver. The weather conditions were pleasant, with clear skies and a cool breeze, as the 27 IndyCar drivers took to the IMS road course for the first practice session of the weekend.
Originally scheduled for 75 minutes, only an hour was dedicated to setting lap times due to three separate incidents that caused red flags and interrupted the session. Despite the stoppages, Herta managed to put his Andretti Global Honda at the top of the time sheets with an impressive time of 1:09.2863.
Herta’s time was nearly a second faster than last year’s pole time, thanks to the ideal track conditions. Agustin Canapino also had a great performance, setting the second fastest time and impressing his team boss Ricardo Juncos. This could potentially be Canapino’s best weekend in his IndyCar career.
Will Power secured the third fastest time, although he held the top spot for a significant portion of the session. There was a minor incident when Power almost collided with another car coming out of his pit box, but fortunately, no damage was done.
Luca Ghiotto, participating in only his second IndyCar race weekend, completed the most laps during practice. However, his final position on the time sheet was 24th.
The first red flag was brought out after just 10 minutes, when Josef Newgarden spun in the second-to-last corner. Although he needed assistance to get back on track, his car remained intact. Newgarden was penalized with a five-minute penalty for causing the interruption, which affected the rest of the grid.
Right after the session resumed, two more red flags were shown due to mechanical issues faced by other drivers. Graham Rahal had an engine failure, while Marcus Armstrong also had engine problems. Both drivers use Honda engines.
Armstrong’s engine failure was particularly dramatic, with thick smoke coming out of the back of his car as he entered the pit lane. The RLL and CGR teams will have a lot of work replacing the engines before the second practice session, which is scheduled to take place in just over two hours. Unfortunately, both drivers will have few laps in the morning session.
As the session came to an end, Theo Pourchaire had fuel pressure issues and was forced to stop his #6 Arrow McLaren Chevy by the side of the track.
Drivers will have another practice session in the early afternoon, followed by qualifying later in the day at 4:20 pm.
