The NTT IndyCar Series headed out on track at Barber Motorsports Park Friday afternoon for the opening practice session of the weekend.
The weather was warm, but breezy, giving all 27 drivers a little bit of trouble as they came to grips with the roller coaster track.
The fastest driver of the session was Marcus Ericsson, who lapped the 2.38-mile course in 1:07.7470.
The Swede has had some bad luck at Barber in recent years, mostly on account of pit strategy. He started this weekend off right, however, and looks quick early in the weekend.
Alex Palou was a hair slower on his fast lap, just 0.0132 seconds off the pace. Colton Herta rounded out the top three with a similarly close time.
Team Penske looked to be mostly back on form, at least in the early session. All three veterans finished the first practice run inside the top 10 with Will Power the fastest in fourth.
The Arrow McLaren trio struggled a little bit to find pace, with all three finishing ninth or lower on the time sheets.
Pato O’Ward reported that he felt the issues were small, and he expects to climb the order after changes are made overnight.
Mostly clean running
Though there were no accidents to bring out any caution periods, a couple drivers made small mistakes that nearly ruined the first part of the weekend.
Reigning two-time Barber race winner Scott McLaughlin was the first to go sliding across the course, ending up sideways as his car lost traction over the crest at Turn 13.
McLaughlin was able to keep the #3 Team Penske Chevy out of the wall, and very nearly out of the grass as well, meaning he was able to continue without causing any interruption to the other drivers.
Felix Rosenqvist had some trouble as well as he pushed a bit too hard at the entrance of Turn 2.
He guided his machine over the gravel and safely onto the small patch of grass at the edge of the barriers then back out on track.
Rosenqvist did not suffer any damage in the excursion, but he did bring a heap of gravel back onto the track with him.
Oddly, Kyffin Simpson received a 10 minute stop and hold penalty for running on track with a fire bottle that was switched off.
The mistake by the Chip Ganassi Racing crew is a potentially severe one, and it is understandable that race control handed down such a strong penalty.
There was a recent reminder of the importance of the onboard fire suppression systems when Robert Shwartzman’s PREMA Chevy was stranded on track and suffered considerable fire damage.
PREMA was further penalized after the event for not having the fire suppression system installed correctly, and it follows that a similar penalty could be issued in this instance.
Drivers are on track next Saturday morning, with a potentially wet qualifying session taking place at 1:30 PM central time.
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