MONTEREY, Calif. — Will Power of Team Penske was the fastest around the recently repaved 11-turn, 2.238-mile picturesque WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca road course in California’s famed Laguna Seca region on Thursday.
Power’s best time in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet was 1:07.2762 for a speed of 119.757 mph.
Last year’s pole was 1:11.6 around the track. This year’s fastest practice lap was 1:07.2762 — an increase of four-and-a-half seconds.
“Very nice. Very smooth. A lot of grip,” Power said of the repaving. “Obviously tough offline. Yeah, it’s incredibly fast. I don’t know what was qualifying last year, pole? Five seconds quicker. Four seconds, yeah. It’s getting there.
“A lot more grip, no bumps. You’re almost flat in nine, almost flat in four. It feels the same sort of rhythm, same gears, but a lot more speed. A lot more grip, ton of grip. So much so I couldn’t actually turn the wheel in nine and ten. I actually had to change the setup so I could turn the bloody car. Kind of like Barber in that respect.”
Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing was second at 1:07.3089 (119.699 mph) in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda followed by Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin’s 1:07.5117 (119.339 mph) in the No. 3 Chevrolet.
Juri Vips, starting his second career NTT IndyCar Series race, was fourth at 1:07.6366 (119.119 mph) in the No. 30 Honda at Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Marcus Ericsson, in his final race for Chip Ganassi Racing, rounded out the top five at 1:07.6463 (119.102 mph) in the No. 8 Huski Ice Spritz Honda.
There were 1,378 laps turned by 27 drivers in the five-hour session, that was interrupted numerous times for spins, including a crash by this year’s NTT IndyCar Series champion Alex Palou.
Palou made his first wrong move of the season when he spun out in Turn 4 and hit the tire barriers at 3:11 p.m. (PST). Palou and the rest of the IndyCar lineup were participating in a full-field test session at the 11-turn, 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Palou climbed out of the car and a tow truck brought the No. 10 American Legion Honda back to the paddock. Palou was seen and released from the Indiana University Health IndyCar Medical Unit.
Alexander Rossi was the sixth fastest at 1:07.6616 (119.075 mph) in the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.
“Previously here you were always concerned about tire deg and trying to improve that through a stint,” Rossi said. “For the most part that seems to have gone out the window.”
Rossi believes the new surface makes the race cars feel much more “modern” because the grip level has dramatically increased the speed.
“It was awesome, he said. “It feels like we have fast, modern race cars. It’s amazing. Performance and balance-wise. It’s a lot of fun. This track was always I think a driver’s favorite. Certainly, in years past it was fun for a couple laps, then the tires would kind of start to drop off, which would make the race super exciting.
“It became less enjoyable inside the cockpit. Now, as hard as you want to try, which is pretty cool.”
IndyCar gave the teams a test day because of the repaved track surface. That allowed teams to try out different setups over five hours.
On Friday, it’s back to a normal practice day schedule consisting of a 75-minute session leading into a morning practice on Saturday and qualifications Saturday afternoon.
“Test days, you are constantly working on where you can improve,” Power explained. “We probably will compress everything more because everyone will have good cars by the time they get to qualifying. It’s very handy to have the test day.”