NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Marcus Ericsson, the winner of the inaugural Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville, was the fastest driver in Saturday morning’s rain-shortened practice session.
The Chip Ganassi Racing driver had a best lap of 1:31.7999 around the 11-turn, 2.1-mile temporary street course in the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritzers Honda.
That puts Ericsson in Group 2 for Saturday’s qualifications.
“That might be very important in weather like this, but more importantly it was good to get out here when it is raining,” Ericsson said. “It’s not that long until qualifying starts so I’m assuming it will start wet, and that would be good for us.
“I thought I was really good in Toronto in the wet and was faster there when it was fully wet and fast today in the wet. It seems like I do all right in those conditions. The car feels really good, but we still have some strange things happening with the brakes and we need to figure that out.
“Being P1 was a positive sign.”
Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing was second in the No. 21 BitNile.com Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing at 1:32.6910.
“Showing we were second in the race shows we have a good car in the rain,” VeeKay said. “Pretty good car in the rain, but the visibility was so bad at the end, it just didn’t make any sense driving any more. But it is nice to have that rain experience.
“It might still be wet in qualifying, and it might also rain in the race. To be fast in the rain is very promising and gives us good confidence.
“This gives us opportunity. You can really let the driving do the talking here. I live in The Netherlands, and it rains a lot there.
“The go-kart times are paying off.”
The Dutchman was followed by Friday’s fastest in practice, Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske at 1:32.8167.
Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske was fourth in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet at 1:33.1106.
Marcus Armstrong of Chip Ganassi Racing was fifth in the No. 11 Honda at 1:33.1767.
Last year’s Nashville winner, Scott Dixon, was sixth at 1:33.5544 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
Steady rain soaked the race course and that created a delay in Saturday morning’s session. IndyCar Race Control shortened the delayed session to 30 minutes from 12:30 to 1 p.m. Eastern Time
Saturday’s qualifications are scheduled for 2:45 ET.