LONG BEACH, Calif. — Two of the NTT IndyCar Series brightest young stars were among the three fastest drivers in Friday’s practice session for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
It was 23-year-old Pato O’Ward of Monterrey, Mexico, who had the fastest lap in practice with “Hometown Hero” Colton Herta of Santa Clarita, Calif., third.
O’Ward’s fast lap was 1:06.6999 around tight 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street course on the streets of Long Beach in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. That was a speed of 106.219 mph. Herta’s best lap was 1:06.9808 (105.774 mph) in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda for Andretti Autosport.
Those two drivers represent a bright future for motor racing, whether they remain in the NTT IndyCar Series or realize their dream of competing in Formula One.
Click here for the full practice results.
The second fastest driver of the session was a true “Hall of Famer.”
It was 42-year-old Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing, who, earlier in the day, was announced as a member of the 2024 Class of the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Dixon lapped the streets of Long Beach at 1:06.9649 (105.799 mph) in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
O’Ward explained his best lap of the session.
“I guess I nailed down the lap,” he said. “It felt good. The little changes that got done to the track maybe not completely changed the setup, but I think it allows you to do a couple different things. You can get away with a couple more things that you couldn’t years past. But where did it come from? I don’t know. I guess, yeah, I was just driving.”
Herta won the 2021 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and is considered the “Hometown Hero” as a native Californian who has won the biggest street race in North America.
“I’m happy with it,” Herta said of his lap. “It’s as good as you could expect. A really solid lap. Didn’t have much traffic, which is nice. We got a clear read of the balance throughout the whole track. We’re making small adjustments, getting in there. The car to start off with was really nice.”
Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing driver and defending Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson was fourth at 1:06.9859 (105.766 mph). Romain Grosjean of Andretti Autosport rounded out the top five at 1:07.1049 (105.578 mph) in the No. 28 DHL Honda.
The only incident of the session came with 30 minutes left when Helio Castroneves came to a stop in Turn 11 and Augustin Canapino also stopped in Turn 9. Both drivers received five-minute timed penalties for bringing out the Red Flag.
There is another round of practice Saturday morning with qualifications for the 48th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Saturday afternoon.