The first IndyCar practice of the weekend is in the books, and Alex Palou put his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda on top of the timesheets.
Palou completed a lap of historic Road America in 1:43.1709, with his final lap being the one that boosted him above the others.
Colton Herta sat at the top of the charts for much of the session, only getting beaten out in the final minutes. His best lap was only 0.0797 seconds slower than Palou in the end.
The first Chevy powered driver on the list was Santino Ferrucci, who put his AJ Foyt #14 entry into the third position.
Josef Newgarden and Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top five, making for five different teams represented in the first five positions.
All 27 drivers took to the track under beautiful but windy conditions that tested their skills in staying on track.
Romain Grosjean took the hardest hit of the session, running wide in Turn 14 and sliding through the gravel and directly into the tire barriers.
His #77 Chevy was buried deep under the tires, and Grosjean climbed from the car before officials attempted to free the nose from under the barriers.
Multiple other drivers misjudged their speed throughout the session, with Pato O’Ward, Marcus Armstrong, and Scott Dixon all taking a trip through the grass or gravel.
All the other drivers were able to get going on their own, and there was only the one red flag to interrupt the session.
One other interesting story was that of Nolan Siegel. The 19-year-old was not scheduled to run in IndyCar this weekend, but was called up last minute to fill in for Agustin Canapino.
Canapino was replaced by Juncos Hollinger Racing less than an hour before the start of the practice session, with the team calling his removal from the car a ‘leave of absence’ that only affects this weekend.
That leaved Siegel, who runs a full IndyNXT campaign alongside select IndyCar races with Dale Coyne Racing this year, to play double-duty throughout the Road America weekend.
Siegel finished the session in 26th with 18 laps completed, and will look to improve as he has more time to familiarize himself with his team for the weekend.
The next practice session takes place Saturday morning just after 10:00 AM central time, followed by knockout qualifying in the afternoon just as rain is forecast to move through the area.
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