Newgarden leaves controversy behind and sets fastest lap of the session. Photo: Kevin Dejewski
The NTT IndyCar Series held the opening practice session of the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park on Friday, with 27 drivers completing laps on the rollercoaster-like circuit.
Amidst much controversy surrounding the unauthorized use of Push to Pass by Josef Newgarden and his team in St. Petersburg, the experienced driver showed his ability to quickly overcome the issue.
The driver clocked the fastest time of the session, completing a lap on the 2.38-mile circuit in 1:06.7045 in his #2 Team Penske Chevy.
His lap was 0.08 seconds faster than the best time of Pato O’Ward, with the popular Mexican driver finishing second on the day.
Newgarden admitted to being a little distracted at the start of the session, as the press conference explaining his disqualification penalty had taken place just a few hours before he took the wheel.
He spun once early in his run, causing a brief pause in the session and damaging a set of tires in the process.
However, he quickly regained focus, as he is known to do, and climbed to the top of the timing charts with his next set of tires.
Newgarden’s Team Penske teammate, Will Power, finished the session in third place, completing a trio of Chevrolet cars at the front of the pack.
Colton Herta and Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top five, providing Honda with representation at the top of the charts as well.
Newgarden was not the only driver to go off track, with a few others testing the limits of the demanding circuit.
Agustin Canapino caused a red flag with his spin, but Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi were able to recover from their mistakes with only the loss of a lap as punishment.
Luca Ghiotto, who completed his first laps in an IndyCar during the session, was the slowest driver of the afternoon. However, he was very close to Sting Ray Robb and performed admirably considering the circumstances.
Drivers will return to the track on Saturday morning for a second practice session, which will be followed by qualifying at 2:30PM central time.
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