The NTT IndyCar Series completed its one and only practice session from the Milwaukee Mile on Friday evening.
Drivers were given 90 minutes to get a feel for the historic oval, and had to use their time wisely so they could prepare for qualifying and a double-header race event later in the weekend.
The sun was setting behind the grandstands as drivers found where the limits are for their early runs.
Fitting a fresh set of tires late in the session, Josef Newgarden set the best lap of all. He lapped the one-mile oval in 22.9191 seconds at an average speed of 159.430 MPH.
The two-time series champion has logged two wins and one other podium on ovals events this season, and already looks to be a favorite to take another trophy or two.
Rookie Dennis Hauger was second quick, and was only less than one hundredth of a second slower in his Dale Coyne Racing Honda.
Alex Palou was third quick as he looks to use the busy weekend to lock up his fifth title in the coming days.
David Malukas and Rinus VeeKay rounded out the top five on the time sheets, giving Chevy strong representation in the early runs.
Palou completed the most laps, motoring past the flagstand a total of 95 times.
Multiple incidents
Unfortunately, there were a couple incidents that interrupted the session and spelled trouble for a few in the field.
The biggest incident of practice was between Christian Rasmussen and Kyle Kirkwood.
Both drivers were running close to each other near the end of the session and ended up side by side down the back straight.
They touched while entering Turn 3, sending both driver spinning into the wall. Rasmussen’s car tipped sideways and pushed the cockpit towards the wall, but both cars settled down a short time later.
Kirkwood blamed Rasmussen for turning into the corner too early, while Rasmussen related that he felt Kirkwood turned into late.
It was not obvious who was at fault, even from television replays, but the end result is the same that both Andretti Global and Ed Carpenter Racing have a long night ahead of them.
Earlier in the session, Nolan Siegel spun on his own in Turn 2 and hit the wall with the back end of his #6 Arrow McLaren Chevy.
The young driver had only completed two install laps and was just starting to turn his first lap at speed.
Siegel said that he had no warning to his car snapping around, and he ended the day with zero real practice to work from.
Drivers will be back on track at 10:00 AM for qualifying, followed by the first race of the double-header weekend at 1:30 PM.
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