INDIANAPOLIS — Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren was the fastest driver in Friday morning’s first practice session for the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
O’Ward had a fast time of 1 minute, 8.4981 second around the 14-turn, 2.45-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
“If you gain a tenth, you gain six of seven spots,” O’Ward said. “Qualifying is going to be that way. It’s a very busy day. We’re going to make some changes and have at it in qualifying. It’s hard to say how much more you are going to get out of the tires, but there is already one heat cycle in the tires. For qualifying, this tire seems to hold up better than last year. We’ll keep looking at it and see what we can make better.”
O’Ward said last year’s qualifications were more of a “one and done” deal in terms of tire life, but he sees more grip in this year’s tires.
Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was second at 1:09.4988 in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda. Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was third at 1:09.5213 in the No. 10 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing followed by Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin at 1:09.5465 in the No. 3 Chevrolet.
Jack Harvey of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was fifth at 1:09.5876 in the No. 30 Honda.
It was a very good day for Rahal Letterman Lanigan as all three drivers were in the top 13 including Lundgaard, Harvey and Graham Rahal, who finished 13th with a 1:10.010 lap time in the No. 15 Honda.
Palou led most of the first session, but it got frantic on the timing list in the final 10 minutes as Lundgaard, Felix Rosenqvist and finally O’Ward swapped spots on top with fastest speed. Second practice is scheduled for 1 p.m. (ET) with qualifications scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. (ET).
Saturday’s 10th GMR Grand Prix begins at 3:45 p.m. (ET) with the NBC telecast at 3:30 p.m (ET).
Practice Results
