After speeding around Indianapolis Motor Speedway for two weeks, IndyCar hit up the streets of Detroit for the next round on the schedule.
Friday held the first opening practice session of the weekend, and Kyle Kirkwood was the fastest driver on track.
He completed lap of the short, bumpy course in 1:01.7509 as rubber built up on the track and time wound down.
Earlier on, Will Power nudged into the back of Kirkwood’s Andretti Global entry while he was slowing to accommodate traffic.
The two cars were effectively stuck together for a time, but that was mostly due to Power’s impatience keeping his foot on the throttle to push both cars along for nearly 300 feet.
The Andretti crew looked at the diffuser back in the pits and confirmed that the floor had been broken in the incident. There could be further action from IndyCar considering the apparent deliberate nature of the incident.
Power went on to complete the third fastest lap of the afternoon, with his Team Penske team-mate Scott McLaughlin slotting in just ahead in second.
Sting Ray Robb brought out the yellow flags momentarily when he stuck the nose of his Juncos Hollinger Racing entry into the tires.
He was attempting to slow down while on the inside line for Turn 1, and he just ran out of track to complete the turn.
Robb was able to back out of the tires and continue around to the pits on his own, with little to no apparent damage to his machine.
A couple other people locked up their rear tires while navigating the tricky braking zone for the first turn, including David Malukas, Felix Rosenqvist, and others.
Drivers will assess their setups overnight and return for more practice Saturday morning at 9:00 eastern.
