MONTEREY, Calif. – With a championship to be decided, Friday’s 75-minute IndyCar practice on Friday was an important time for the five title contenders – as well as the rest of the field – to get a grip on the treacherous track surface at WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca.
The 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course that has steep elevation changes is quite abrasive, causing the Firestone tires to degrade rapidly.
That is one reason why the start of practice was slow with many of the top teams waiting it out on pit lane before taking laps.
“Everyone had to wait because the tires degrade so much,” said Team Penske driver and points leader Will Power. “We got good runs. Had some good stuff. The car is in the window. Not much more to say, man.
“Got to keep working hard. Got to be out front.”
Power, the 2014 NTT IndyCar Series champion, is attempting to win his second career IndyCar Series championship in Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. He has a 20-point lead over two-time IndyCar Series champion and teammate Josef Newgarden.
Power was the seventh-fastest driver Friday with a best time of 1:11.9858 in the No 12 Verizon Chevrolet. Newgarden was the fastest at 1:114103 in the No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet.
“Just a tricky session,” Newgarden said. “There was a lot of people going off, there was a lot of dirt on the track, so it was quite difficult to put it together. So not a very straightforward session. But I think very productive in a lot of ways.
“It’s not a lot of running, and you’re trying to make the most use of just a couple runs, and I felt like we did that, so I was happy about that.
“But obviously early days in the weekend for us and the Hitachi car.”
Andretti Autosport driver Colton Herta was second fastest in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda at 1:11.8266. He was followed by teammate Romain Grosjean at 1:11.8697 in the No. 28 DHL Honda. Another Andretti Autosport driver, Alexander Rossi, was fourth at 1:11.9034 with rookie Callum Ilott rounding out the top five in a Chevrolet at 1:11.9490.
Scott Dixon, who is also 20 points behind Power, was 17th at 1:12.3911 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
“We came with a pretty different setup than what we did at the test,” Dixon said. “We just wanted to try a few different things. We could see that the 8 car already backed up on some of those, so it looked like he moved in a positive direction. Still, all of us outside the top 10 is not ideal. We’ll work out of here and see make what we can make out of it. It’s going to be a pretty high [degradation] race.”
Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing is fourth in the standings, 39 points behind Power. He was 10th at 1:12.0803 in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda.
“I’m hoping it’s going to be a high-deg race, and it seems to be that way,” Ericsson said. “Usually, our team and myself from my experience, we’re usually pretty good at that. Yeah, the tires seemed to degrade quite quickly here. It was the same in the test and the same today in practice.
“I think in the race as a driver, I think you have to think about it and sort of figure out a way to get the stint length that you are planning. It’s going to be quite tricky; I think. Depending a bit on the weather, as well. It seems to be coming in some colder weather, and that might change things, make the tires last a bit better.
“But at least from what I saw today, I think it’s going to be quite a tricky race for all of us, and also people are going off left, right, center, and there’s sand on the track, and it’s quite tricky to run lap to lap, to stay on track, because it’s so challenging out there.”
Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske is fifth in the standings, 41 points behind Power. He was 11th on Friday at 1:12.0877 in the No. 3 Chevrolet.
“I’m actually really enjoying the way that you’ve got to drive the car,” McLaughlin said. “I’m kind of low-key sad that they’re going to resurface because it’s kind of fun, and you’ve really got to think about the pitch of the car and what you’re doing with the car and stuff like that.
“It is what it is, and resurfacing will be good for the longevity of the track, but I’d like to just keep running on the old stuff.”
Prior to practice, IndyCar issued a memo to teams announcing the addition of curbing in the famed “Corkscrew.”
As in previous years, there is a 4-inch secondary curb located behind the primary curbing at the top of the corkscrew. The primary purpose is to prevent gravel from being kicked back or dragged onto the racing line.
All four wheels to the right of the red/white painted curbing constitutes a shortcut. A timeline is placed there to determine of a violation occurs. A camera is also in place for detection.
In the race, IndyCar Race Control will review to determine whether time/or position penalty applies.
A guaranteed 45-minute practice session is scheduled for Saturday from 10:15-11:15 a.m. local time (1:15 to 2:15 p.m. Eastern). The one-hour time frame is to ensure teams get the full 45 minutes of practice.
At 2:05 p.m. local, (5:05 p.m. Eastern Time) is knockout qualifying culminating with the Firestone “Fast Six.”
As for the championship, Power wins it if he finishes third or better in Sunday’s race.