The NTT IndyCar Series took to the historic Milwaukee Mile on Saturday morning, sampling the track and getting in a solid hour of practice.
Perhaps making a break in his run of poor results, Josef Newgarden set the fastest lap of the morning.
His fast lap was run in 22.6864 seconds, leading to an average speed of 161.066 MPH on the flat oval.
Team Penske overall looked dialed in, with all three drivers posting laps in the top eight of the time sheets.
The series’ newest four time champion Alex Palou was second quick, with Conor Daly setting the third best time.
Drivers were a little cautious during their practice runs, making sure they did not damage their cars ahead of qualifying.
There is only two hours between practice and qualifying, meaning any repair work would have potentially led to sitting out of qualifying altogether.
A few drivers had moments of oversteer as they pushed the limits a bit, but overall there were no incidents to speak of.
The only interruption was for track inspection, with series officials making sure that there was no moisture seeping through the track.
The Milwaukee area had flooding rains just two weeks ago, but it appears that the track remains safe to race on this weekend.
Louis Foster did not complete any competitive laps at all, and the team quickly diagnosed that a new Honda engine was needed.
His RLL team began work on the rear of the #45 entry, and Foster will take a grid penalty taking a fresh power plant.
Qualifying takes place at 1:00 PM central time, when two timed laps will set the order for Sunday’s race.
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