MONTEREY, Calif. — Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was the fastest driver in Saturday morning’s IndyCar practice session for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey.
Lundgaard hopes to back up that speed later today in qualifications at the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course, set for 5 p.m. ET.
Lundgaard’s fast time Saturday morning was 1:07.6154 in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda. Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing was next at 1:07.6548 in the No. 21 BitNile Chevrolet.
Two-time and 2023 IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou was third at 1:07.7993 in the No. 10 American Legion Honda at 1:07.7993.
Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossie was fourth at 1:07.8522 in the No. 7 Chevrolet with Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood rounding out the top five at 1:07.8714 in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda.
The high-gripped, newly repaved road course once again had many red flag incidents in practice.
VeeKay spins out just 8 minutes into the session.
Pato O’Ward spun going into turn four, slid through the gravel, and hit the tire barriers 9 minutes into the session to bring out the first red flag.
“I haven’t seen the replay, but I think I touched one of the white lines on the curb, that’s like ice,” he said. “It’s driver mistake. Once I got to the gravel, I couldn’t stop the car.
“It’s a messy situation and I was a bit over the window of the tires. Too much attack for the grip of tires that were available.”
Will Power, who crashed in Friday’s practice session, lost control of his No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet in the Corkscrew section of the track. He slid off track, into the gravel, but avoided the tire barrier.
“That surprised me,” Power radioed to his crew.
The AMR Safety crew was able to release him from the corner and he drove the car back to pit lane with 27:57 left in the session.
Later in the session, Colton Herta drove through the gravel but steered it back on course. A few moments later, Santino Ferrucci was driving through the Corkscrew when the engine in his No. 14 Chevrolet began to smoke and he had to pull off course with 12 minutes, 58 seconds left in the session.
The cars returned to the track with 3-1/12 minutes to go and ended with Lundgaard on top.