The field of 25 drivers in the NTT IndyCar Series roared out of a two-week hibernation on Friday by turning laps on the famous Long Beach street circuit.
Practice was the first order of business as teams looked to test out how well the setups they brought correlated to their simulations.
To the surprise of no one, Alex Palou was quickest out of the gate and immediately set the fastest time in the early segment on the harder tire compound.
The softer tires provided a big boost in grip and shook up the order by time the session was over, with Will Power setting the fastest lap of all.
Power turned a lap of 1:07.6053, which was nearly two tenths of a second quicker than any other driver.
The rest of the Andretti Global trio was on pace as well, with last year’s winner Kyle Kirkwood setting the third best time and Marcus Ericsson sixth on the time sheets.
Palou was fourth quick after the final checkered flag flew, with Marcus Armstrong slotting into fifth in his Meyer Shank Racing Honda.
Armstrong’s team-mate Felix Rosenqvist nearly matched his pace, setting the seventh quick time of the afternoon.
Frustration on the streets
Not all drivers were happy after the day was done, including a couple that could really have used a trouble-free day.
Scott McLaughlin, who has pushed the limit too far multiple times this season, seemingly did so again late in the session.
While braking for Turn 9, his Team Penske Chevy denied his request for a downshift and The Kiwi could not get his machine slowed down enough to make the corner.
McLaughlin slid into the tire barriers and crunched up the suspension on the left side of his ride.
He was setting very quick times before the incident, much like the early portions of previous weekends, and ended the day second on the timesheets.
He seemed largely unbothered by the incident and will look to bounce back from yet another damaging crash in the early portion of the weekend.
Mick Schumacher’s trouble came earlier in the afternoon, and he did not get much of a chance at all to sample the temporary course.
His #47 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing machine came to a sudden halt early in the session before he could attempt a single flying lap.
After coasting to a stop on track, his team hinted at larger Honda engine issues by queuing up the radio to tell him not to even try to restart it. The car was then towed back to the paddock for a full evaluation.
The rookie heads into Saturday with nearly zero experience on a track he has never seen before.
Schumacher and the rest of the field will get one more practice session Saturday morning before diving straight into knockout qualifying later in the day.
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