IndyCar headed out on track at Portland International Raceway Friday afternoon, completing the first practice session of the weekend.
Times were very close up and down the order, with most drivers lapping within one second of each other on the 1.96-mile course.
Christian Lundgaard was fastest of all, completing a lap in just 58.5320 seconds on the softer alternate tire compound.
The Danish driver has not historically finished well at Portland, but he has a lot of momentum on his side and looks to continue that this weekend.
Alex Palou was just a hair slower, completing a lap that was just 0.0061 seconds off the pace and showing that he will once again be a threat this weekend.
Felix Rosenqvist was the third fastest, lapping just over one tenth of a second slower than those at the head of the list.
Graham Rahal set the fourth fastest time, followed by Josef Newgarden and David Malukas in fifth and sixth respectively.
There was not much in the way of team-mates being grouped together, and it appeared that individual driver efforts were the main factor in Friday’s practice speeds.
There was one stoppage, which was brought out by Scott Dixon running wide in Turn 11.
The veteran slightly misjudged his entry speed, and simply washed wide off the track. A quick assist from the AMR safety crew got him on his way with only a couple minutes time lost.
One and done for the soft tires
The soft tires were much quicker for the first few laps of their use, accounting for approximately half a second gain on the short lap.
Their advantage was short lived, however, with drivers reporting that their usefulness was used up after just three laps.
The alternate compound appears to be preferred for qualifying, but may not be very useful during Sunday’s race.
High track temperatures were the biggest factor in the unexpected degradation, and those will only get higher as the weekend progresses.
High temperatures are forecast to be well above 90° F (32°C) on Sunday, which will force drivers and teams to deal with some unconventional heat while in the Pacific Northwest.
Next up is another practice session, which gets underway at 9:00 AM PT on Saturday morning.
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